Yesterday, the reporter learned from the scientific research department of Nottingham University in Ningbo that the university"s innovative project "Closed-Loop Manufacturing of Automotive Plastic Products" has tried to produce automotive parts that meet the requirements of industrial performance through cooperation with an automotive parts enterprise in Ningbo. The team used recycled plastics instead of plastic raw materials to help companies significantly reduce production costs. Take the bumper as an example, it is expected to reduce raw material costs by 40% and save 1 million yuan per 100,000 pieces.

The project is led by Philip Hull, an assistant professor in Nino"s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering. He has devoted more than 30 years to environmental protection projects, and has more than 20 years of engineering experience in resource recovery and utilization. He has participated in a number of recycling research topics, "Closed-loop manufacturing of automotive plastic products" is one of them.

After nearly five years of research, trial and error, and industrial application, his team separated and extracted plastics from automobile crushing residue, modified the extracted plastics, optimized the forming process of recycling plastic parts, realized closed-loop manufacturing of automobile plastic products, and successfully applied to automobile parts production.

"Recycled plastics can be 20% to 50% cheaper than plastic raw materials. The higher the grade of plastics, the greater the price gap between raw materials and recycled materials, especially for automotive plastics with high demand. Although the modification of recycled plastics requires the purchase of various fillers and additives to enhance its mechanical properties, due to the large price gap between raw materials and recycled materials, it still has considerable economy and practicability. Dr. Philip Hull said.