Development of a recycling solution for waste thermoset material: waste source study, comminution scheme and filler characterization

International audienceEnd of life electrical equipment is a continuously increasing source of waste in our modern society, and constitute an environmental problem. Understanding this type of waste flow is important to devise proper dismantlement and sorting strategies, and to maximize the material recovery rate and valorization. In this work, a waste pool constituted of electrical meter was studied. The specificities of this equipment in term of design were enlightened, and the overall material composition was determined. An emphasis was put on the characterization of the plastic fraction, both in term of plastic type and presence of regulated substances. It revealed that this fraction is mostly composed of phenolic molding compound (PMC), a thermoset material, which is troublesome in term of recycling. A material valorization solution through mechanical recycling is proposed, consisting in using PMC as functional filler in a thermoplastic matrix. A comminution scheme to obtain such filler is presented in this work, and the comminuted products are characterized. Through 2 or 3 steps of comminution, particle size below 50 µm can be obtained, which is expected to be a sufficient size for incorporation in a thermoplastic matrix