Development of a Laboratory-Scale Steam Boiler for Polyurethane (Foam) Waste Recycling Machine

Abstract

In this paper, a laboratory-scale (small) Steam Boiler was designed and developed for a small-scale polyurethane recycling machine. A small-sized polyurethane machine was developed for the recycling of polyurethane foams to reduce wastes in the polyurethane production industries and also to reuse old discarded foams after their useful lives. It has been observed from studies carried out in many foam manufacturing industries that the polyurethane foam wastes generated from various plant operations are enormous. Also, polyurethane (foam) products are everywhere in our homes, industries and automobiles and are always discarded after their useful lives. These wastes need to be recycled always in other for them not to get back into our ecosystems thereby polluting our environment because polyurethane foams are non-biodegradables and can remain in the environment for a very long time. However, only a few companies with strong financial capabilities are able to embark on this venture because of the high costs of machinery and large quantities of chemicals involved. The high costs of machinery and chemicals also deter cottage industries from participating in the recycling of old and discarded polyurethane foams. Therefore, there is a need to develop small-scale polyurethane foam waste recycling machines to reduce the costs of machinery and chemicals involved in the recycling thereby allowing more participation in the recycling process. The boiler is used to generate high-temperature steam for curing and better bonding of the shredded foams. The heating chamber of the machine consists of the steam boiler, and pressure hose to enable passage of steam from the steam boiler into the molding box. The total volume of the boiler is 2.5 Litres. The outlet steam temperature is 135 0C and 25 psi pressure. The heat rate is 1.52 kJ/s. The recycled foams were able to cure and bonded better with the addition of steam compared to without the steam. The percentage difference in I.F.D, Resilience, Tensile Stress and percent elongation are +0.56, -2.00, +85.45, and +68.39 respectively.

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