{"id":7090,"date":"2017-09-15T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=7090"},"modified":"2017-11-06T12:26:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T18:26:20","slug":"pe-novel-plastics-recycling-technology-aims-lighten-nasas-payload-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/7090\/pe-novel-plastics-recycling-technology-aims-lighten-nasas-payload-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel plastics recycling technology aims to lighten NASA\u2019s payload in space"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few environments in which the mantra \u201cReduce, Reuse, Recycle\u201d resonates more than in space. The limited supplies, constrained confines and microgravity weightlessness of vehicles on orbit only add to the logistical challenges.<\/p>\n

NASA \u2013 the National Aeronautical & Space Administration \u2013 estimates it costs at least $10,000 for every pound<\/em> of products or materials that the agency projects skyward. So it\u2019s easy to understand why reducing volume and waste, while also lightening the payload on space missions is paramount.<\/p>\n

A Seattle-area firm called Tethers Unlimited Inc<\/a>. has been working closely with NASA for more than three years to develop an in-space plastics recycling technology \u2013 in conjunction with 3D printing \u2013 to help that cause.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Allison Porter (left) and Rachel Muhlbauer of Tethers Unlimited Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe motivating factor, initially,\u201d noted Rachel Muhlbauer, TUI\u2019s director of research and development, \u201cwas that powders aren\u2019t good in the space environment, particularly in the [International Space] Station, because you can\u2019t contain them, there\u2019s no gravity, they don\u2019t settle, they just float around and become part of the environment. That creates problems for both health and safety, and for electronics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such factors render undesirable the typical plastics recycling method of grinding used thermoplastics into small particles for reheating and reshaping. Instead, Muhlbauer explained in a Sept. 5 telephone interview, Tethers devised a method that borrows from injection molding but has adapted it for extrusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take scrap plastic, put it in a melting chamber,\u201d Muhlbauer said, \u201cand a piston moves down while [the material] is at temperature and melted, and presses [it] into its material forming stage.\u201d From there, it forms into the shape of 3D printer filament, and then it is extruded out. Tethers calls the resulting recycling process Positrusion.<\/p>\n

The firm also has developed a 3D printer to work in conjunction with this process, and it refers to the integrated unit \u2014 recycler, spooled plastic filaments, and 3D printer \u2014 as the Refabricator.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Refabricator project manager Allison Porter with engineers Eric Baumgarten (middle), and Steve Alvarado (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In all, the Refabricator is roughly the size of a mini-refrigerator. Its size was predefined by the EXPRESS Rack on the Space Station, explained Dr. Allison Porter, who is both Refabricator project manager and TUI\u2019s flight mission manager. \u201cEXPRESS\u201d is an acronym for \u201cEXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments for Space Station\u201d \u2014 multipurpose payload rack systems that store and support research aboard the space station. NASA refers to the spatial units on these racks as \u201clockers.\u201d TUI began by developing its Positrusion recycling machine to fit into one locker, but then expanded that to two lockers, once they decided to integrate the 3D printer and recycler into a single unit, Muhlbauer and Porter explained.<\/p>\n

Tethers so far is exclusively using SABIC\u2019s Ultem\u2122 9085<\/a> polyetherimide material on this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose to work with Ultem 9085 as our material for the space station mission because it\u2019s been validated for use in space \u2013 both within the ISS [International Space Station] \u2026 as well as outside the station in the space environment, because it doesn\u2019t degrade under vacuum like a lot of polymers do,\u201d Muhlbauer said, noting the material has very good properties for flammability and toxicity, giving it \u201chigh utility in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recycling machine, however, itself can be adapted to any plastic, she added. It\u2019s just a matter of changing the parameters of the temperature control. Three thermoplastic resins are currently approved for use in space with the 3D printer \u2013 Ultem 9085 plus ABS and HDPE.<\/p>\n

Muhlbauer said TUI has already tested HDPE in-house on its recycling machine at its Bothell, Wash. headquarters, and \u201cit worked beautifully.\u201d Efforts continue with ABS, as well, she noted.<\/p>\n

NASA is pushing a \u201ccommon-use materials initiative.\u201d As a result, most packaging materials now in space are a derivative of polyethylene. TUI is working with the agency to develop the optimum launch packaging materials (food packaging, baggies, etc.) that can be recycled and reused multiple times via the Refabricator.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to create trash in space,\u201d Muhlbauer said; \u201cyou want to be able to reuse it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter added: \u201cWe\u2019ve tested up to seven cycles of recycling so far, and we\u2019ve not seen any significant degradation yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both NASA and Tethers see real possibilities for using this Positrusion process and recycling unit on Earth, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis technology and this payload design is obviously tuned for space, so there are certain design aspects that are much more rigorous than would be necessary for a commercial unit.,\u201d Porter noted. \u201cBut it\u2019s something that we\u2019re exploring and we know there is interest in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Refabricator technology is fairly autonomous and would translate well to something like a submarine or a cruise ship or perhaps a ground base that is difficult to reach by land. \u201cFor the recycler itself,\u201d Muhlbauer said, \u201cwe see a huge terrestrial market for being able to make your own 3D printing filament.\u201d And the two components \u2013 the recycling unit and the 3D printer \u2013 easily could be separated for different uses, they noted, for example to allow 3D printing hobbyists to make and reuse their own filament.<\/p>\n

TUI also has discovered that plastic materials recycled using their Positrusion remelting and reforming process retain their properties better than those recycled via more traditional grinding process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you grind plastics up before reprocessing, you\u2019re essentially cleaving the [polymeric] chains mechanically,\u201d Muhlbauer explained. \u201cYou\u2019re putting the polymers under a lot of shear, and they do not do well under shear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our process, you\u2019re avoiding that step. You\u2019re only thermal cycling it, and we\u2019re trying to keep the temperatures under the thermal degradation temperature of the material, so we keep the properties of the material a lot longer, through the cycles of reuse\u201d than if it were being ground up and melted multiple times.<\/p>\n

The TUI process has very precise thermal controls, and operates under vacuum in the melt-process stage, which also helps to pull out the water, oxygen and any contaminants that might have found their way into the used parts. This level of control aids the highly autonomous system desired in space, she said, but may be less necessary on a potential ground-based system.<\/p>\n

Tethers is currently in the process of building a flight unit of the Refabricator, as well as an identical backup unit. \u201cWe plan on going to the flight-certification testing at Marshall [Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.] this winter,\u201d Porters said, \u201cand then [prepare it] to be delivered to the space station late spring next year.<\/p>\n

Tethers designed and built all the Refabricator\u2019s components, Porter explained, to enable it to better control the operating conditions of the entire plastic process, from recycling to printing, and to provide maximum autonomy of the unit, rather than depending on the inputs of another system.<\/p>\n

That said, Muhlbauer noted, \u201cThe Positrusion recycler we developed will work with any 3D printer \u2026 and is machine-independent.\u201d Asked about the total investment in this project so far, she said that, between both NASA and Tethers, \u201cwe\u2019re in the millions\u201d of dollars.<\/p>\n

But there are indications that this particular NASA payload may also have a big, potential payoff, in terms of waste reduction and reuse, both in space and on land.<\/p>\n

Search for plastics by material properties<\/h3>\n

With Prospector’s Property Search, search by properties to effectively and efficiently find the right plastics for your project.<\/p>\n

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There are few environments in which the mantra \u201cReduce, Reuse, Recycle\u201d resonates more than in space. The limited supplies, constrained confines and microgravity weightlessness of vehicles on orbit only add to the logistical challenges. NASA \u2013 the National Aeronautical & … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":7094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[206],"ppma_author":[1244],"class_list":{"0":"post-7090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plastics-2","8":"tag-sustainability","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nPlastic recycling and 3D printing in space: a 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Grace","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2017\/10\/Robert-Grace_avatar_1508791447-96x96.jpg9c3cf61917eeafce529135a60aa75f87","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2017\/10\/Robert-Grace_avatar_1508791447-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2017\/10\/Robert-Grace_avatar_1508791447-96x96.jpg","caption":"Bob Grace"},"description":"Robert Grace has been in business-to-business communications his entire career. He has broad global experience and for more than 35 years has worked as a journalist, editor-in-chief, publishing executive and key connector of like-minded parties. He has launched successful publications and C-level events on three continents. While with Crain Communications Inc., he oversaw the relaunch of the 100-year-old European Rubber Journal in London and helped to start Urethanes Technology magazine there. \u00a0In 1988 Bob returned to Akron, Ohio, to serve as founding editor of Plastics News, an award-winning, weekly business newspaper. In 2005 he oversaw the editorial launch of the bilingual (Chinese and English) PN China e-newsletter and website. For more than a decade at PN he also held the titles of associate publisher, editorial director and conference director, and most recently served as business development director. A long-time affiliate member of the Industrial Designers Society of America, Bob has organized numerous design-focused events, earned a Personal Recognition Award from IDSA in 2013, and constantly strives to help bridge the gap between the design and manufacturing communities. In 2014 he left Crain and created RC Grace LLC in Akron, Ohio, as a consultancy that aims to help companies to enhance their branding and market presence, find business partners, connect with design resources (here or in Asia), secure funding and advance their growth initiatives. Email Bob or visit his website at www.rcgrace.com to learn more about how he can help you.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ulprospector.com"],"url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/author\/robert-grace\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":1244,"user_id":23,"is_guest":0,"slug":"robert-grace","display_name":"Bob Grace","avatar_url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2017\/10\/Robert-Grace_avatar_1508791447-96x96.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7090"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}