Technology to recover and recycle high-purity PVC from waste PVC windows and flooring
Plans to collaborate with domestic chemical process specialists going forward
LX Hausys has become the first company in Korea to develop a technology that can extract and recover PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) from waste PVC windows and flooring.
The technology removes various additives from building materials made with PVC as a raw material and recovers high-purity PVC, opening the way to recycle PVC raw material from waste building materials—something that had previously been difficult due to technical limitations.
PVC is one of the general-purpose polymer materials used in a wide range of applications, including various building materials, construction pipes, and wire coatings.
However, because of the chlorine content contained within the PVC polymer, its chemical and thermal reuse is limited, and it is difficult to remove the various additives introduced during PVC processing. As a result, PVC has not been recovered and recycled as the polymer itself. Instead, recycling has been carried out by crushing waste building materials into scrub form and mixing them in during the manufacture of existing products.
Accordingly, efforts to develop technologies to extract and recycle PVC raw material from waste PVC processed products have continued worldwide, and LX Hausys has now succeeded in developing this technology for the first time in Korea.
Using its proprietary Selective Matching Elimination Technology (SMET), LX Hausys is able to selectively remove various additives such as plasticizers and stabilizers that are included in the manufacture of PVC windows and flooring, thereby extracting high-purity recycled PVC (rPVC) with physical properties equivalent to those of virgin PVC.
The recycled PVC recovered through LX Hausys's technology does not degrade product characteristics even when used directly in the manufacture of new window and flooring products. In the company's own tests, it was found to comply with all applicable standards, including the limits set by various environmental standards for heavy metals and phthalate plasticizer content.
In particular, since the recycled PVC extracted from waste building materials can be used identically in other PVC processed products beyond building materials, the technology is regarded as one that can greatly contribute to expanding the use of recycled PVC in Korea.
LX Hausys has currently filed a total of six patents for its "method for manufacturing recycled polyvinyl chloride" using SMET technology.
An LX Hausys official said, "As LX Hausys produces a variety of building material products based on PVC raw material, we have continuously worked to develop PVC recycling technology, and this achievement is now bearing fruit," adding, "Going forward, we will collaborate with domestic chemical process specialists to progressively secure a mass-production process for recycled PVC that applies SMET technology."
