It was found in our previous studies [17] that
strong alkaline solutions of sodium hydroxide are
able to destroy the hydrophobicity (floatability) of
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) whereas the
hydrophobicity of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
remains only slightly affected by these solutions.
On this basis, a technology involving treatment of
PET and PVC particles with alkaline solutions
followed by froth flotation of PVC with non-ionic
surfactants has been developed and tested at a
laboratory scale. It was demonstrated that using
this technology, a 95-99% recovery of PET can
be achieved with the removal of most PVC from
the PET [ 171. As demonstrated in our previous
contribution [ 171, appropriate NaOH concen-