Recycling of insulation of 600V XLPE cable using supercritical alcohol

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.