Case Study: Michigan Technological University advances PET recycling research with CHEMCAD from Datacor

Michigan Technological University studies PET recycling with Datacor, modeling 13% U.S. recycle rates

The customer, Michigan Technological University (MTU), faced the challenge of low U.S. recycling rates for post-consumer PET plastic waste. A research group led by Utkarsh S. Chaudhari sought to analyze and compare different solvent-based recycling methods to find an economically viable and environmentally sound pathway to achieve a closed-loop circular economy for plastics. They engaged vendor Datacor to utilize its CHEMCAD process simulation software for this study.

Datacor, through its Chemstations division, provided technical support for the project. A senior engineer consulted with the MTU researchers, who used the CHEMCAD simulator to model three different precipitation process configurations. The simulation helped the team estimate the energy consumption and process economics for each method, using the UNIFAC thermodynamic package to ensure accuracy. This analysis by Datacor's solution was crucial in identifying promising pathways to improve PET recycling rates and reduce environmental impact.

Michigan Technological University