How and into which components does PDR recycle PU foam cans?
Recycling requires expertise and innovative technologies
Sophisticated process engineering is required to achieve a high material recovery rate when recycling PU foam cans. In the world's only plant for recycling PU foam cans, PDR mechanically crushes them in the absence of oxygen. The liquid contents and metal parts (aluminum or tinplate) fall into a solvent bath. They are conveyed out via a washing screw and pre-washed.
This is followed by further washing and drying stages. A metal separator sorts the cleaned and dried aluminum and tinplate. The resulting PU-solvent mixture is filtered several times, passed through a heat exchanger and separated into PU and solvent. The propellants are extracted and liquefied under pressure. Regrind for plastics processing is obtained from the plastic caps.
The diagram provides an overview of the recycling process for used PU foam cans at PDR:
How does PU foam can recycling work at PDR?
This video explains in a humorous way how PU foam cans are recycled at PDR and who is involved in the collection and recycling system.
Video series: Simply explained: Recycling PU foam cans
These videos show the closed production cycle of PU foam cans from manufacture to recycling and illustrate the people and interfaces involved in the take-back system.
Watch videos
You can recycle these PU foam cans at PDR:
- Construction foam
- Fire protection foam
- Well foam
- Insulating foam
- One-component foam
- Window foam
- Assembly foam
- Assembly adhesive
- Perimeter foam
- PU foam
- PU foam gun
- Frame foam
- Two-component foam
PU foam can recycling made easy.
