Optimization of the sorting process in PVC-floor recycling : Scenarios to optimize economic and environmental aspects of the upscaling sorting process

Sammanfattning: Background: The industrial economy has been dominated by a one-way production and consumption model. Closing loops for materials has seen an upswing in popularity. The focus though has been on the environmental aspects instead of the economic benefits from implementing closed loops. With an increasing PVC consumption, the interest of implementing a closed loop of material management is increasing. PVC is a highly desired thermoplastic material because of its low cost and high performance. The high performance of PVC causes the materials to have a long lifetime which delays the end-of-life waste management. The option to utilize landfilling to deal with the accumulating waste has become a less acceptable option because of higher costs, environmental dangers, and decreasing availability of landfilling areas. When recycling PVC, it is important to ensure a high accuracy within the sorting process. A lower purity in the recycling process could lead to a lower quality of the material. With the increasing worldwide demand for PVC, which exceeds 35 million metric tons per year, the demand for a robust waste material management is high. Objectives: The objective with this master thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the affects of introducing a closed loop of material management of PVC by optimizing the upscaling sorting process based on a maximization of the savings and the CO2 emission savings. Methods: An optimization model was developed based on previous literature regarding optimizing sorting processes and recycling processes. Different scenarios were set up to try to optimize the savings and CO2 emission savings for an upscaling sorting process of PVC. The scenarios were based on different changes in different variables. The model and the scenarios were implemented at a case study. The case study was made at the PVC-floor company Tarkett in Ronneby. Results: The different scenarios were compared based on their monthly savings and monthly CO2 emission savings. The results showed that when dealing with a larger volume of incomed material, a more capital-intensive solution should be implemented. It also showed that an upscaling of a sorting process in PVC-floor recycling can be financially feasible while implementing a closed loop of material management. Conclusions: The recent trend in waste material management indicates that many companies are implementing a closed loop of material management through capital-intensive sorting process to manage the increasing availability of waste. The comparisons of the different scenarios revealed that, if the monthly savings is to be optimized, there should be an increase in incomed material and the sorting process should implement a more capital-intensive solution utilizing automated sorting machines. If the monthly CO2 emission savings should be maximized, the incomed material should be maximized and handled by a labor-intensive solution.