Recycling

It is important to recover more resources as much as possible to expand usage of recycled resources. To increase recovery of recycled resources, Panasonic’s relevant divisions collaborate with each other aiming to develop further efficient recycling technology.

Residues from the recycling process of used home appliances contain small amount of metals such as copper and iron and organic matter that consists of plastics and rubber, etc.

This system, “Organic decomposition treatment system through catalytic reactions,” developed and introduced by Panasonic, enables recovery of metals from the residues without incineration.

Specifically, the residues are mixed with a catalyst (titanium oxide) and the organic matter contained in the residues is broken down into harmless gases through catalytic reactions. The residues will then contain only metals, which can be recovered as resources. Using this system, it becomes unnecessary to use fuel for the incineration of residues, leading to a decrease in CO₂ emissions.

Heat-insulating urethanes used in refrigerators were difficult to recycle into fuels because the urethanes are processed into sponge using gas such as CFC and would generate chlorine gas that would damage the furnace when incinerated. From these reasons urethanes were difficult to use as is.

To solve this problem, Panasonic Corporation, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, and Chubu Eco Technology Co., Ltd. jointly developed a technology, “pellet mill thermal compression,” to extract fluorocarbon material from the urethane sponge by compressing and solidifying it into small cylinder-shaped pellets.

Specifically, based on this technology, crushed urethane is processed into cylinder-shaped pellets by pressing into a cylindrical mold with several thousand holes (ring die). CFC contained in the urethane vaporizes and separates with the friction heat generated when the crushed urethane is squeezed through the holes. The gasified CFC is recovered using special equipment.

This technology has enabled us to recycle heat-insulating urethane into high-calorie fuel that can be used safely for a wide range of purposes. Moreover, the transportation efficiency has also increased by four times as a result of pelletizing the urethane, which in turn contributes to CO₂ emissions reduction.