Plastics: physical-and-mechanical properties and biodegradable potential

Introduction. Processing agricultural waste into plant biodegradable plastics is a promising way for its recycling. This work featured the main physical-and-mechanical properties of plant plastics without adhesive substances obtained from millet husk and wheat husk and wood plastic obtained from sawdust, as well as their biodegradation potential. Study objects and methods. Objects of the study were plastics without adhesives based on wood sawdust, millet husk, and wheat husk. Results and discussion. We analyzed of the physical-and-mechanical parameters of the plant plastic based on millet husk, wheat husk, as well as wood plastic based on sawdust. The analysis showed that, in general, the sbeiigth characteristics of the wood plastics were higher than those of the plastics based on millet husk, especially flexural strength. Thus, the average value of the density of the wood plastic exceeded that of the plant plastic from millet husk by 10%, hardness by 40%, compression elasticity modulus by 50%, and flexural modulus by 3.9 times. It was found that wood and plant plastics obtained from sawdust, millet husk, and wheat husk without adhesives had a high biodegradation potential. Conclusion. The plastics obtained can be used as an insulating, building, and decorative material in the steppe regions experiencing a shortage of wood and wood powder

The environmental and financial benefits of recovering plastics From residual municipal waste before energy recovery

A life cycle assessment was carried out to investigate the environmental benefits of removing dense plastics from household waste before burning the waste in an energy from waste (EfW) facility. Such a process was found to improve the climate change and non-renewable resource depletion impacts of the waste management system. A preliminary financial assessment suggests that the value of the plastics recovered in this way would be less than the reduction in electricity income for the EfW. However, if the plastics were separated by the householders and collected in a kerbside recycling scheme, the greater price commanded by the higher-quality reclaimed plastics means that the operation would financially viable Further work is required to assess the effectiveness of using both kerbside collections and mechanical recovery to reduce the plastics content and carbon intensity of EfW feeds

PIM moulding of post consumer mixed plastics

Post consumer plastics from household are highly mixed and contaminated and are thus particularly difficult to recycle. Although advances in sorting and cleaning technologies for waste plastics have enable the relatively pure and clean streams such as bottles to be recycled, there is a increasing need for processing technologies that can utilise the low grade and mixed plastic residues from the plastics recovery facilities (PRF). In this work, potentials of utilisation of such feedstock in Powder Impression Moulding (PIM), a process capable of fabricating lightweight sandwich structures, are investigated in terms effects of loading and size of flakes from PE-rich mixed plastics in the formulations of the core on flexural properties of the sandwich panels. It was demonstrated that sandwich panels can be made by incorporating about 75 wt% of coarse flakes of a low-grade mixed plastics material directly obtained from a PRF

Technology and innovation management : analysis of the New Zealand plastics industry : technology status, problems and opportunities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Production Technology at Massey University

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the status of innovation and technology management in the New Zealand plastics industry using a survey. This thesis provides a comparison of plastics manufacturing capability in New Zealand and in other industrial countries; it also provides an examination of key trends, attitudes and problems within the New Zealand plastics industry to indicate where technology transfer from overseas, or research and development may be required

Recycling and the Environment: a Comparative Review Between Mineral-based Plastics and Bioplastics

Since their conception in the 1950s, mineral-based plastics have completely revolutionised our society with production reaching record highs year upon year. This cheap, and durable material has seen usage across a plethora of diverse industries and products, replacing traditional materials such as metals and wood. However, our reliance on mineral-based plastics has led to their improper disposal across the global, affecting our environments and ecosystems. As a response, different methods have been developed to help dispose of the large amounts of plastic waste produced, such as incineration or dumping in landfill sites, but these methods are not without their drawbacks including release of toxic substances into the air and leachate into the soil and waters respectively. Consequently, much interest is generated and channelled in recent years to the introduction of several types of biopolymers. These include plastics based on cellulosic esters, starch derivatives, polyhydroxybutyrate and polylactic acid. These biopolymers have been viewed as a suitable replacement for mineral-based plastics, and their production a good strategy towards sustainable development as they are mainly composed of biocompounds such as starch, cellulose and sugars. This short review article provides an overview as to whether biopolymers can rival mineral-based plastics considering properties such as mechanical strength, Young’s modulus and crystallinity and could they be regarded as a suitable material to reduce our reliance on mineral-based plastics, whilst simultaneously reducing non-renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions

Reinforced structural plastics

Reinforced polyimide structures are described. Reinforcing materials are impregnated with a suspension of polyimide prepolymer and bonded together by heat and pressure to form a cured, hard-reinforced, polyimide structure

PREPARATION PRELIMINARY STUDY OF BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS BASED OF CASSAVA COMPOUNDS WITH ADDITIVES LIMONENE EXTRACTION OF ORANGE LEATHER

Biodegradable plastic is a plastic material that is environmentally friendly because it is able to return to nature. In general, biodegradable packaging films is defined as packaging that is recyclable and can be destroyed by nature. Cassava starch can be an alternative biodegradable plastic raw materials. The manufacturing process is similar to the process of making plastics with the raw material of synthetic polymers. Biodegradable plastics are new breakthroughs to deliver maximum results, with the base material of cassava and the addition compound limonene, the thickness of relatively thin plastic, the stronger the attraction, elasticity longer. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimum conditions to produce biodegradable plastics with the compound limonene (additive) from the extraction of orange peel. Research conducted through three stages: (1) extraction of orange peel, (2) extraction of cassava starch, and (3) the manufacture of biodegradable plastics. Variable is an experiment conducted on susceptible starch concentration of 4-6% and 5-7% concentration of sorbitol. While the cooking temperature between 70-80oC and the addition of an additive compound of orange peel extract as much as 15%. Of research can be seen that the concentration of cassava starch, sorbitol concentration and the concentration of limonene compounds influencing parameters tested. Percent extension treatment with the highest concentrations found in cassava starch 6%, 7% sorbitol concentration, and concentration of the compound limonene 15%. Relatively good condition or optimum in the manufacture of biodegradable plastics at 80 oC. Keywords: biodegradable plastic, cassava starch, limonene, orange pee

Properties of concrete containing recycled PET bottles as sand replacement

The modern lifestyle along with the new technologies have contributed the increasing of waste materials production. Plastic is one of the waste materials which is non-disposal and non-biodegradable material that can remain on earth without degradation. The world produces nearly 150 million tonnes of plastics per year, which is nearly 4.8 tonnes per second and a per capita production of 25 kg/year [1]. The Malaysian Plastic Industry (2012), reported that Malaysia is one of the largest plastics producers in Asia [2]. In Malaysia, extensive consumption of PET bottle is one of the contribution to the increasing growth of plastic waste disposed in landfills. Reutilization of PET wastes in concrete technology is one of the innovative solution for reduce the materials cost and solve some of the plastics waste problems .

Fast pyrolysis of halogenated plastics recovered from waste computers

The disposal of waste computers is an issue that is gaining increasing interest around the world. In this paper, results from the fast pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor of three different waste computer monitor casings composed of mainly acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer and two different waste computer body casings composed of mostly poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) type polymers are presented. Preliminary characterization of the waste plastics was investigated using coupled thermogravimetric analysis-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (TGA-FT-IR). The results showed that the plastics decomposed in two stages. For the ABS-containing monitor casings, aromatic and aliphatic material were released in the first and second stages. The PVC-containing computer body casing samples showed a first-stage evolution of HCl and a second stage evolution of aromatic and aliphatic material and further HCl. In addition, each of the five plastics was fast-pyrolyzed in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed reactor at 500 °C. The fluidized bed pyrolysis led to the conversion of most of the plastics to pyrolysis oil, although the two PVC computer body cases produced large quantities of HCl. The pyrolysis oils were characterized by GC-MS and it was found that they were chemically very heterogeneous and contained a wide range of aliphatic, aromatic, halogenated, oxygenated, and nitrogenated compounds