Recycling of insulation of 600V XLPE cable using supercritical alcohol

Abstract

We introduce the technology to make silane cross-linked polyethylene (Si-XLPE) thermoplastic using supercritical alcohol for material recycling of Si-XLPE. The new continuous process was developed using extruder for the treatment of supercritical fluid for industrialization. We successfully obtained recycled PE at the rate of 20 kg/h. The gel fraction of recycled PE was 0%, and its mechanical properties were similar to virgin PE. It means that siloxane bond was selectively decomposed. Then, 100% recycled PE was applied for the insulation of 600 V XLPE cable. The properties of the recycled cable satisfied JIS C 3605, the Japanese Industrial Standards of 600 V XLPE insulated cable. These results indicated that this technology can be applicable to the cable to cable recycling. Moreover, it was calculated that CO2 emission can be reduced by this technology in comparison with virgin PE.