PVC RECYCLING
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used to manufacture pipe, cable, window frames and floor coverings. Its difficult and expensive disposal makes its recycling beneficial not only to the environment but also to the bottom line.
One eco-friendly recycling method is cold grinding: coarsely chopped plastic residues (granulates) are cooled to minus 120 degrees Celsius in a precooler from Messer using injected liquid nitrogen. At that temperature, the PVC becomes as brittle as glass and can be ground into a fine powder without sticking together or forming clumps. The control system and the cyrogenic gas come from Messer. The temperature in the mill can be adjusted precisely by controlling the rate of addition. All of the PVC powder produced in this way is returned to production to make new floor coverings.
