Turning Waste Into Product Design Rethinking Polyurethane Foam Waste As a Resource
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Turning Waste into Product Design Rethinking Polyurethane Foam Waste as a Resource Master of Science Thesis in the Master Degree Programme Product Development KIM NISKANEN SOFIA WALLSTEN Department of Product and Production Development Division of Product Development CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Gothenburg, Sweden, 2013 Turning Waste into Product Design Rethinking Polyurethane Foam Waste as a Resource KIM NISKANEN SOFIA WALLSTEN ______________________________________________________________ Dept. of Product and Production Development Chalmers University of Technology Division of Product Development Gothenburg, Sweden 2013 Turning Waste into Product Design Rethinking Polyurethane Foam Waste as a Resource Master of Science thesis in the graduate programs for Industrial Design Engineering and Mechanical Engineering © Kim Niskanen and Sofia Wallsten, 2013 Chalmers tekniska högskola / Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden Phone: +46(0) 31-772 1000 Print: Chalmers Reproservice PREFACE This report covers the documentation of a Master‟s thesis project (30 credits), carried out in the Master of Science in Product Development programme at Chalmers University of Technology, in Gothenburg, Sweden. As Kim has a Bachelor‟s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Sofia in Industrial Design Engineering (Swedish „Teknisk Design‟), the Master programme has served as a common part of both educations to be Civilingenjör (protected Swedish title). This project is a part of the larger project “From Industrial Waste to Product Design” (IWtoPD), which is a collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology, Stena Recycling AB and the technical consultancy company Semcon Caran AB. We would therefore like to thank the following persons: Chalmers: Andreas Dagman (examiner and supervisor), Isabel Ordoñez (coordinator of IWtoPD project) and Sandra Tostar (PhD at Chemical and Biological Engineering department). Furthermore, we would like to thank Oskar Rexfelt, Ulrike Rahe and Ralf Rosenberg who have been involved in the IWtoPD project. Stena Recycling: Mats Torring (involved in IWtoPD project), Stefan Grönevik (Site manager in Värnamo) and Henrik Celander (Marketing at Värnamo). Semcon: David Gillblom (involved in the IWtoPD project). Others we would like to thank are: Christer Forsgren (Head of Technology and Environmental Science at Stena Metall AB), Göran Werner (Head of Technology at Carpenter Sweden AB), Shpresa Kotaji (Environmental Affairs Manager & Sustainability Expert at Huntsman Polyurethanes in Belgium) and Joakim Levin (Expert Adviser at PTS). We would also like to thank all others that have assisted us in the project, answered questions, provided knowledge and in general showed interest in our project. ABSTRACT Today there are industrial waste materials that have no commercial value for various reasons. Many of these materials end up as landfill or go to energy recovery due to no incentive of recycling or re-use. The aim and objective of this project was therefore to find areas of application for the waste material flexible Polyurethane (PUR) foam. This required identification of possibilities and difficulties that the material offers when it comes to recycling. Furthermore, it involved development of several product concepts that utilize the PUR foam‟s various properties according to the identified possibilities. The project is a part of the larger project “From Industrial Waste to Product Design”, which is a collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology, Stena Recycling AB and the technical consultancy company Semcon. The pre-study showed that PUR foam beneficially can be recycling through what is called rebonding; a recycling process that results in a foam of higher density than the virgin foam. A creative process resulted in a wide range of ideas on possible areas of application for the recycled material. The ideas were categorized into five categories according to what material property they primarily utilize; compression & softness, sound absorption, thermal insulation, fluid absorption, shock & vibration absorption and, lastly, other (non-property oriented ideas). The generated ideas were screened by evaluation on a set of criteria, namely Feasibility, Suitability of the material’s properties, Estimated utilized volume and market potential and Degree of downcycling. The screening was done in several steps, and additional information was gathered when needed in order to evaluate all ideas equivalently. This process narrowed down the ideas to one promising idea within each category. The screening was followed by a market analysis where potential user categories and market potentials were identified. Four ideas (product categories) were further selected for development of product concepts. The first concept is a modular screen-wall system for fairs and exhibitions where the rebonded foam is used as a flexible, sound absorbing panel. The second concept is a lamp where the lampshade is made from thin sheets of rebonded PUR foam, thus showing the visual properties of the material. The third concept is a set of large, soft playing modules for children. It consists of several modules, all on a forest theme, that can be used for playing, building, learning and as sitting furniture. Lastly, a pair of two product concepts of cooling bags was developed that are utilizing rebonded PUR foam as thermal insulation. All these products serve as examples on how to create a route for the material back into the market, and thus „closing the loop‟ for the material. An informative poster was created which summarizes the project and its findings; displaying information on PUR in general, detailed information on rebonded PUR foam and the possibilities in regard to feasible products. This could be seen as a summarized knowledge database on the findings from the project. KEYWORDS: Product Development, Polyurethane, Foam, Waste, Product Design, Resource, Research, Poster, Concepts. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................... 2 1.3 LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 SCOPE ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.5 READER’S GUIDE .................................................................................................................. 3 2. PROJECT FRAMEWORK – DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS ................................................... 5 2.1 PHASE I – PRE-STUDY ............................................................................................................ 6 2.2 PHASE II – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................ 6 3. THEORY, METHODS AND TOOLS ......................................................................................... 9 3.1 WASTE MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................... 9 3.2 SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MODELS ....................................................................... 10 Circular Economy .................................................................................................................... 10 Cradle to Cradle ...................................................................................................................... 11 3.3 THE CREATIVE PROCESS AND WORKSHOPS ............................................................................... 12 3.4 IDEA GENERATION AND SCREENING ........................................................................................ 13 Quantitative brainstorming ................................................................................................... 13 Random word list ................................................................................................................... 13 The relay baton ...................................................................................................................... 13 KJ method ............................................................................................................................... 13 Screening ................................................................................................................................ 14 Imageboard ............................................................................................................................ 14 3.5 MARKET ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 14 Competitor analysis and estimation of market potential ...................................................... 14 Perceptual map ...................................................................................................................... 14 3.6 SPECIFYING NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................. 15 3.7 CONCEPT GENERATION AND EVALUATION ................................................................................ 15 Morphological matrix ............................................................................................................