Recycling glass packaging method analysis

At present, there are mainly four types of recycling of glass bottles (cans): packaging reuse, recycling, raw material recycling, and transformation and utilization. Now we will make an analysis of the recycling technology.

First, packaging reuse of waste glass packaging

1. Reuse method

Packaging reuse of so-called waste glass packaging refers to the use of packaging in recycling (described above). It is also used in the recycling of the same packaging and the use of more packaging in two forms.

The use of the same thing packaging is divided into the use of the same brand and different brands of packaging. For example, the recycling of beer glass bottles for beer packaging is similar to the use of packaging, but it may be that the original packaging of beer is not a beer after recycling, this time is the use of different brands of similar packaging packaging, on the contrary, before and after the recovery bottle Packaging for the same brand of beer, is called the same packaging use. At present, most of the recycling on the market is the use of different brands of packaging used for similar packaging.

The use of packaging materials is also more common. If there are many manufacturers that produce vinegar, beer glass bottles, soy sauce glass bottles, etc. that are recycled will be used for vinegar packaging.

At present, the recycling and reuse of glass bottles is mainly low-value and large-scale commodity packaging glass bottles. Such as beer bottles, soda bottles, soy sauce bottles, vinegar bottles and some cans and other bottles. As a high-value liquor bottle, pharmaceutical (medical) bottle, and cosmetic bottle, almost no recycling is used. The relationship between the package recovery rate and the product value is shown in Figure 1. As can be seen from the figure, the higher the value of the product, the lower the glass bottle recycling rate.

(2) Multiplexing method

The multiplexing process is: picking and sorting-→cleaning-→cleaning (water flushing)-→washing and cleaning-→washing-→drying water-→disinfection-→waiting for use.

Picking classification refers to classifying glass bottles of different types according to their structural shapes so that they can be used according to their purpose.

Cleaning refers to removing the label on the bottle body, especially the plastic label, and also removing the bottle with the notch in the bottle mouth to ensure that there is no accident during use (crushing or crushing the bottle will result in mechanical stress. The cracking chip falls into the bottle.)

Detergent cleaning is to remove dirt from the bottle to make it more hygienic and clean.

Disinfection process is a necessary process for foods or chemicals that require stricter regulations, especially for medical supplies or cosmetics.

The biggest drawback of the reuse method is that it consumes a lot of water and energy, which is also a problem to be considered.

Second, abandon the remanufacturing of glass packaging

Remelting reconstitution refers to the remanufacturing of various packaging glass bottles used for similar or similar packaging bottles, which is essentially a kind of recycling of semi-finished raw materials for glass bottle manufacturing.

Specifically, the glass bottles to be recycled are subjected to preliminary cleaning, cleaning, and pretreatment according to color classification; the melting of the reflow oven is the same as the original production, and will not be described in detail herein; the reprocessed recycled materials are manufactured through various processes such as blowing and adsorption. Various glass bottles.

Recycling furnace regeneration is a method that is suitable for recycling glass bottles that are difficult to reuse or that cannot be reused (such as damaged glass bottles. This method consumes more energy than the previous method.

Third, waste glass packaging materials reuse

Recycling of glass bottles for reuse of raw materials refers to the use of various glass bottle packaging wastes that cannot be reused as raw materials for the manufacture of various glass products. The glass products here are not only glass packaging products, but also other product wastes such as other building materials and daily-use glass products. This method consumes more energy than the first two recycling methods. The addition of crushed glass in an appropriate amount contributes to the manufacture of the glass, because the cullet can be melted at a lower humidity than other raw materials. Therefore, recycling glass bottles requires less heat and the furnace body wear can also be reduced. Studies have shown that in glass manufacturing, blending about 30% of cullet is appropriate, so it is also possible to increase recycled glass (see glass container manufacturing).

At present, the glass container industry uses about 20% of broken glass in the manufacturing process to promote melting and mixing with raw materials such as sand, limestone, and alkali. 75% of broken glass comes from the production process of glass containers and 25% comes from post-consumer capacity.

When using waste glass bottles (or broken glass) for the reuse of raw materials for glass products, attention should be paid to the following issues.

(1) Fine selection to remove impurities

Impurities and ceramics must be removed in glass bottles because glass manufacturers need to use high-purity materials.

For example, there are metal caps in the cullet that may form oxides that interfere with the operation of the furnace; ceramics and other foreign materials create defects in the production of the vessel.

(2) Color selection

Recycling colors is also a problem. Because tinted glass cannot be used in the manufacture of colorless flint glass, and amber glass is only allowed to add 10% green or flint glass, so the cullet after consumption must be selected manually or by machine. Broken glass can only be used to produce light green glass containers if it is used directly without color picking.

Fourth, the transformation and utilization of waste glass packaging

The transformation and utilization of recycled glass packaging refers to the method of direct processing of recycled glass packaging into other useful materials.

This method of use is divided into two types, one is a heated type and the other is a non-heated type.

1. Non-heated type.

Non-heated use is also called mechanical use. The specific method is to directly crush or recover the worn-out glass by pre-processing according to the use conditions, such as cleaning, sorting, drying, etc., and then mechanically crushing them into small particles, or grinding and processing into small glass balls to be used. There are several ways to use it:

1 The use of glass shards as pavement assembly, construction bricks, glass wool insulation and honeycomb structure materials;

2 The crushed glass is directly mixed and mixed with the building material components to form a prefabricated whole building;

3 The crushed container glass can also be used to manufacture reflective sheet materials and clothing accessories;

4 It is used to decorate the building's surface so that it has a beautiful optical effect;

5 can be directly ground into a variety of shapes, and then glued into arts and crafts or small decorations such as buttons and so on.

6 The mixture of glass and plastic waste can be molded into synthetic stone products.

7 can be used to produce sewage pipelines.

2. Heating type

In the heating type, the waste glass is crushed, melted in a high-temperature melting furnace, and then glass fiber is prepared by rapid drawing. This glass fiber can be widely used in making asbestos tiles, glass jars and various building materials and daily necessities. The production of glass bottles is one of the most energy-consuming packaging products. It is very valuable to recycle. Figure 2 shows the recycling cycle of glass bottles. How to more effectively recycle glass packaging is a hot topic at home and abroad.

V. Conclusion

Among the four methods for glass packaging recycling mentioned above, packaging reuse is an ideal recycling method, which is an energy-saving and economical recycling. As a transformation and utilization, this is a recycling method that needs urgent development. In the future, there will be many new technologies that will add value and will be used for transformation and utilization.

In summary, recycling of waste glass packaging packaging should be strongly promoted, and recycling and recovery should increase research and development efforts. No matter which kind of recycling and utilization methods can save energy, they should be studied and promoted according to local conditions.