At the end of October, Regra Kunststofftechnik GmbH (D-66931 Pirmasens; www.regra.de) officially put on stream a facility for the chemical recycling of semi-rigid to flexible polyurethane scrap. The company claims that the facility is unique in the field of chemical polyurethane recycling, also as far as its size is concerned. In cooperation with the Fachhochschule Aalen, three innovative chemical processes (partial glycolysis, polyolysis, acidolysis) have been developed, which are now being used on an industrial scale for the first time. The capacity of the facility is initially around 1,500 t/y PU scrap, which was previously partly reused in low-grade processes, but predominantly treated as waste.

The Regra recycling process yields, as the end product, polyol recyclate, which can be used on its own or blended with virgin polyol to manufacture polyurethane products. According to Regra, it will be possible with this innovative process to recycle 97 – 99% of the PU produced as scrap. This, it said, is particularly significant for the field of flexible foam, which is by far the biggest PU product in terms of production volumes and scrap.

• Plasteurope.com Service: Detailed description of the process and recycling facility (“Recypol” production) from regra ecosystems gmbh (Porlacher Str. 66, D-82031 Grünwald – Production: Im Wiesel 4, D-66954 Pirmasens): PIE-No. 45871 – Company profile Regra: PIE-No. 45873. All documents in German.