*** 9801511 Wisner This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a new process for recycling painted automotive thermoplastics. The use of thermoplastics to produce automotive bumpers, fascias, etc. began in the mid 1980's and currently consumes approximately 350 million pounds per year. With the average life of an automobile of 10-12 years, hundreds of millions of pounds of valuable plastic are beginning to accumulate at the automotive dismantlers. Most of this ends up in automotive shredder residue and subsequently in landfills. The basic problem in recycling these thermoplastics is residual paint particles. Phase I research discovered a process to remove the paint using partial hydrolysis and mechanical attrition to remove the paint. Phase II will design, build, and operate a fully commercial prototype process. The quality of thermoplastics in bumpers' end-of-life vehicles will be assessed from different climates of the U.S., and functionalized additives, designed to react with partially hydrolyzed paint, creating an "in situ" compatabilizer, will be explored. The commercial goal is to deliver recycled plastic from both dismantlers (post consumer) and industry scrap (post industrial) with virgin plastic properties and reuse it in bumper manufacture. This technology is expected to increase the recycling of a major material resource, and commercial recycling of 100 million pounds per year is thought to be achievable. ***
