Development of materials to remove lead stabilizers from End-of-Life Polyvinylchloride (PVC)
Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia (UVEG) are taking part in REMADYL, a Horizon 2020 European Project consisting in developing scavenger materials for the removal of lead stabilizers from End-of-Life PVC.
Firstly, UVEG successfully developed a lab scale synthesis process to obtain a precursor material for supporting the lead scavenger, based on so-called called Layered Double Hydroxides (LDH). This precursor material consists of layers of divalent and trivalent metal cations with an interlayer space that can be occupied by differently sizes anions.
Recently, UVEG researchers have successfully optimized a semi-pilot synthesis to obtain the LDH precursor material at a larger scale and can now produce ZnAl-LDH batches using large scale equipment (like the one shown in the figure below).
Next, the researchers will focus on obtaining the final material for removing the lead.
Equipment developed to carry out LDH synthesis at large scale
28-04-2020