Process for producing monovinylaromatic polymer incorporating post-consumer recycled polystyrene, monovinylaromatic polymer incorporating post-consumer recycled polystyrene and articles produced thereof

An installation for using a process to produce a monovinylaromatic polymer comprising post-consumer recycled polystyrene (PCR-PS), the installation comprising:

• at least one dissolver with agitating means;
• suppliers to provide PCR-PS and monovinylaromatic monomer to the dissolver;
• a filtration system;
• one or more lines connecting the filtration system and the dissolver and configured to redirect at least a part of the stream of filtered polymerization mixture exiting the filtration system back to the dissolver prior to introduction into one or more downstream polymerization reactors;
• the one or more downstream polymerization reactors;
• and
• lines to direct a stream of filtered polymerization mixture exiting the filtration system to the one or more polymerization reactors, wherein the process comprises:
• a) providing a PCR-PS and monovinylaromatic monomer to at least one dissolver;
• b) mixing the PCR-PS and the monovinylaromatic monomer within the dissolver to dissolve the PC-PS in the monovinylaromatic monomer so as to produce a polymerization mixture, wherein the polymerization mixture comprises insoluble material originated from the dissolved PCR-PS;
• c) filtering the polymerization mixture in a filtration system in order to obtain a stream of filtered polymerization mixture;
• d) ending the filtering of the polymerization mixture and recovering the filtered polymerization mixture;
• and
• e) polymerization at least a portion of the filtered polymerization mixture in the one or more polymerization reactor to form a monovinylaromatic polymer comprising PCR_PS;
• wherein the step c) of filtering the polymerization mixture includes continuously redirecting at least a part of the stream of the filtered polymerization mixture exiting the filtration system back to the dissolver and mixing it with the polymerization mixture so as to continuously reduce the content of insoluble material in the polymerization mixture contained in the dissolver;
• the installation characterized in that the filtration system comprising one or more filters, and the dissolver being suitable to contain a given volume of polymerization mixture, the one or more filters of the filtration system are selected to have a total filtration surface of at most 5 m2 per 1 m3 of the polymerization mixture to be filtered contained in the dissolver.

An installation for using a process to produce a monovinylaromatic polymer comprising post-consumer recycled polystyrene (PCR-PS), the installation comprising:

• at least one dissolver with agitating means;
• suppliers to provide PCR-PS and monovinylaromatic monomer to the dissolver;
• a filtration system;
• one or more lines connecting the filtration system and the dissolver and configured to redirect at least a part of the stream of filtered polymerization mixture exiting the filtration system back to the dissolver prior to introduction into one or more downstream polymerization reactors;
• the one or more downstream polymerization reactors;
• and
• lines to direct a stream of filtered polymerization mixture exiting the filtration system to the one or more polymerization reactors, wherein the process comprises:
• a) providing a PCR-PS and a monovinylaromatic monomer to at least one dissolver;
• b) mixing the PCR-PS and the monovinylaromatic monomer within the dissolver to dissolve the PCR-PS in the monovinylaromatic monomer so as to produce a polymerization mixture, wherein the polymerization mixture comprises insoluble material originated from the dissolved PCR-PS;
• c) filtering the polymerization mixture in a filtration system in order to obtain stream of filtered polymerization mixture;
• d) ending the filtering of the polymerization mixture and recovering the filtered polymerization mixture;
• and
• e) polymerization at least a portion of the filtered polymerization mixture in the one or more polymerization reactor to form a monovinylaromatic polymer comprising PCR-PS;
• wherein the step c) of filtering the polymerization mixture includes continuously redirecting at least a part of the stream of the filtered polymerization mixture exiting the filtration system back to the dissolver and mixing it with the polymerization mixture so as to continuously reduce the content of insoluble material in the polymerization mixture contained in the dissolver the installation further comprising a grinder for subjecting the PCR-PS to grinding before being provided to the at least one dissolver at a).