Fluorinated resin gets recycled

Asahi Glass and Nittetsu Chemical Engineering have developed a new process that breaks fluorinated resin into calcium fluoride, extracts it and then recompounds it.

This June, the two companies plan to start up a plant that uses the process within the Asahi Glass Chiba Plant in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture.

First off, Asahi Glass will collect used fluorinated resin left over from the manufacturing processes in its own plant to be recycled. Later, it will also break down and treat used fluorinated resin collected from its customers.

Approximately 20,000 tons of fluorinated resins are annually supplied in Japan, where they are used mainly as an insulation material for heat-resistant electric cables/wires, physiochemical/electronic components, and in the manufacture of semiconductors.

However, because of the difficulty in handling the gas generated in the thermal decomposition process, fluorinated resin has been extremely difficult to recycle in the past, and when deemed as non-recyclable it has been treated as industrial waste.