We would like to explore the idea of landfill mining as means of recovery of inorganic additives. Our products are mainly used as additives in polymer industry. Many types of inorganic additives are disposed as landfill materials, whether they are in powder state or in polymers. There exist different options of recycling these additives other than the landfill option. The challenge we present here is, what can be done with landfill materials with the purpose of inorganics recovery. This is the topic that we would like to brainstorm on, together with the students and hopefully come up with some useful insights.
Our company is the world's biggest producer of synthetic hydrotalcites and the producer of a series of other inorganic materials, which all fall in the category of inorganic additives, to which our challenge is strongly related.
We are aware that this is not an easy question. This topic has not yet been thoroughly investigated by our company. With this hackathon, we hope to get some answers and insights which go further than a basic internet search.
We are the market-leading global supplier of synthetic layered double hydroxides (generally referred to as "hydrotalcites") for plastics. With our other product, synthetic magnesium hydroxide, we focus on specialty applications in niche markets.
In 1966, our parent company Kyowa Chemical Industry (Japan) was the first in the world to succeed in the industrial synthesis of hydrotalcite. This product, an environmentally friendly layered-double-hydroxide (LDH), was first introduced as an antacid for the pharmaceutical industry. Before long, hydrotalcite found its way to a broad range of applications, which benefit from its reliable and triggered-response mechanism of scavenging acids. Examples of these applications include:
• PVC: Non-toxic heat stabilizers.
• POLYOLEFINS: Scavenger of acidic residues from catalysts (e.g. Ziegler-Natta).
• HALOGENATED FLAME RETARDANTS: Scavenging free halogen ions.
• COATINGS & ADHESIVES: Corrosion inhibitor.
In 1997, Kisuma Chemicals BV was incorporated to service markets in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East. In Veendam (the Netherlands), we operate the world's largest, state-of-the-art factory in its kind. In Veendam, a source of magnesium chloride (our key raw material) with exceptional purity is present. This combined with our proprietary technology results in products with the highest available quality. Moreover, our products are available: Any Time - Any Place - Any Quantity.
