MODULAR CARPET RECYCLING DEVELOPS METHOD FOR RECYCLING USED CARPETING INTO OIL AND RECYCLED NYLON

Modular Carpet Recycling (MCR), a startup out of Delaware, says it has come up with a precipitation process to efficiently recycle nylon fibers in old carpet, a material we’re swimming in even with the stall in construction.

Four billion pounds of carpet enter waste streams in the U.S. each year, says CEO Ron Simonetti. Five pounds of oil go into a single pound of nylon, so annually the U.S. could curb oil exports by millions of barrels via recycling.

“Two percent to three percent of the waste streams in California are carpet,” he said. “Every person in the U.S. uses 10 pounds of carpet a year.”

Just as important, MCR says it can produce recycled nylon, branded as Renewlon, for less than the cost of comparable virgin materials. Virgin nylon costs around $1.10 a pound to produce, and the price rises with spikes in oil. MCR can produce fiber for 90 cents a pound. The company sells it for $1.29 a pound and its margins increase as oil prices rise. The system wouldn’t work if oil dropped to $50 a barrel or lower, but oil right now is in the $80 range.

A very large fiber manufacturer has signed a right of first refusal to obtain the output from MCR’s factory, which can produce 5 million pounds of nylon a year. MCR hopes next to build more modular factories.

Recycling, like water and agriculture, is one of those green technology markets long on potential but short on actual profits, progress or interest from investors -- but that could change. New waste regulations combined with improving technology are making it more economical to refurbish.

Garbage giant Waste Management leads the charge on gritty green. It is transitioning from a trash company to a lifecycle services firm as well as investing in startups and experimenting with technologies like landfill-to-methane. Meanwhile, Autodesk is helping manufacturers to design with recycling in mind and investors such as Steve Jurvetson have spoken more enthusiastically about discards.

Startups to watch include Ostara (fertilizer from human waste -- YUCK!!), Lehigh Technologies (old rubber), Bioplastech (plastic recycling through microbes), Electronic Recyclers and iGPS (plastic pallets).

Carpet is already benefiting from legislation. California has passed a law that places a recycling fee on carpet. Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland are contemplating similar legislation. The EU has a ban on carpet in landfills. But instead of recycling, many people burn it, and a pound of carpet contains 15,000 BTUs. Talk about Eurotrash.

The key to MCR’s technology is a precipitation/distillation process it calls DynaSep. First, carpet goes to a recycler where it gets shaved. The backing, made of calcium carbonate, goes to one company and MCR takes the fibers.  

MCR dissolves the fiber in formic acid to make a nylon soup. Then comes the secret precipitation process. The process occurs at room temperature, but at an elevated pressure. In the end, the process fleeces out the dirt so that the company is left with 99 percent pure nylon and a reusable tub of formic acid.

“It is not a very energy-intensive process,” Simonetti said. “If we couldn’t reuse the chemicals we’d be dead in the water.”

The process was invented by co-founder Brian Waibel, an expert on separation and drying.

Other nylon recyclers with different processes achieve a 95 percent to 98 percent level of purity, but in this environment that’s enough to offset the economics. MCR’s next step involves boosting purity to 99.8 percent. It also working on a shaving process to get more fiber from old carpet: conventional techniques only yield about 50 percent of the fuzz.

Perhaps the biggest challenge that MCR faces is the stinginess of the American consumer. The MCR process only works with nylon and many manufacturers have begun to produce carpet out of PET.

“PET is technically recyclable, but economically, it doesn’t make sense,” said Simonetti.

MCR has received funds from Musea Ventures, a small firm with stakes in Kateeva (equipment for OLEDs), HelioVolt (superheated solar thermal) and Designer Energy (sugar), but is seeking more for expansion.

COMMENTARY:   Oil from used nylon carpets.  What a great idea.  Brazilians have found a way to recycle plastics into oil, so why not.  

MCR dissolves the fiber in formic acid to make a nylon soup. Then comes the secret precipitation process which appears to be a quasi-solven/supercritical fluid (SCF) method for separating polymers.  The process occurs at room temperature, which is a big plus since it does not consume as much energy, but at an elevated pressure.  In the end, the process fleeces out the dirt so that the company is left with 99 percent pure nylon and a reusable tub of formic acid.  

According to a research paper by Y. Wang, titled Carpet Recycling Technologies  of the School of Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA), there are two commonly used methods for recycling used carpeting: 

• Solvent extraction has been used to separate the high value nylon from carpet waste. The solvents used include aliphatic alcohol, alkyl phenols and hydrochloric acid.  The drawbacks of solvent extraction is the use of toxic and caustic chemicals, waste removal, transportation, modest temperature and pressures required, and time required.
• Supercritical fluid (SCF) is another method used to recycle used nylon carpeting.  The SCF method extracts the individual polymers from the used carpet by using CO2 as a solvent at high pressures and temperatures (170-210 degrees centigrade) to extract the components from the used nylon carpets. 

I am very familiar with supercritical fluid (SCF) extraction, a process that is used in botanical extraction of scented oils and flavorings from vanilla beans, fruits, seeds, vegetables and other organic plant matter.

Very soon we will run out of oil.  We are already reaching a point where demand will exceed production, so this is not as crazy as it sounds.   With oil experts predicting that oil will exceed $150 a barrel in 2011, and gas will rise to $5.00 per gallon by 2012, this should insure that MCR becomes a successful startup.  

Still, I would much prefer that we stop using fossil fuels altogether.  This turning oil-->nylon-->oil is not going to work for me, but VC's are taking an active interest as the price of oil increases.  

Courtesy of an article dated December 29, 2010 appearing in GreenTechEnterprise

Comments

[John]

MCR doesn't pay their bills.

[cheap jordan shoes]

Keep 'em coming... you all do such a great job at such Concepts... can't tell you how much I, for one appreciate all you do!

[Tommy]

jordan 2012,

Thank you for your nice compliment. I blog mostly about technology of every kind, but there are always a few surprises to spice things up. Hope you will come back regularly. thank you.

Tommy

[jordan 2012]

I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect!

[Tommy]

Ailith, well said.

[Ailith Blesington]

Yeah, old nylon carpets can be of great help to people and to the environment with this project. I wish other countries adapt and eventually implement this concept. This process, when combined with using fossil fuels, can certainly help everyone affected by the oil crisis.

[Timberland Waterproof Boots]

Don't know what is wrong what is rite but i know that every one has there own point of view and same goes to this one

[Carpet tiles]

This is a big step to help save our environment. It shows that there are no waste at all from production, installation up to recycling. Going green should be encourage nowadays because of the global problem that the world is facing.

[Queens carpet cleaning]

So, a regular carpet cleaning can make your life easy and enjoyable in this regard. Thanks for sharing.

[Queens carpet cleaning]

So, a regular carpet cleaning can make your life easy and enjoyable in this regard. Thanks for sharing.

[Queens carpet cleaning]

So, a regular carpet cleaning can make your life easy and enjoyable in this regard. Thanks for sharing.

[Tommy]

Mill Creek Carpet Cleaning, thanks for the nice compliment about MCR. There's money to be made in used carpeting

[Mill Creek Carpet Cleaning]

Its really a great post. I am sure that anyone would like to visit it again and again. After reading this post I got some very unique information which are really very helpful for anyone. This is a post having some crucial information. I wish that in future such posting should go on.

[lighting control]

Itz so shocking to know dat Four billion pounds of carpet is wasted...The carpet recyling process will be of immense help.. http://www.edgonline.com/ I waz just looking at for an eco friendly post and ur article waz of great help...