Microwave Treatment of High-Density Polyethylene with Carbon Black and Activated Carbo

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989100%3A27710%2F22%3A10250984" target="_blank" >RIV/61989100:27710/22:10250984 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Microwave Treatment of High-Density Polyethylene with Carbon Black and Activated Carbo

Original language description

The estimated cumulative amount of waste plastic produced up until 2017 is 8,300 million metric tons, with approximately 0.04% of this value produced in Canada annually. Out of the total plastic waste produced in Canada, 86% is landfilled, 8% is mechanically recycled, 1% is chemically recycled, and 4% is incinerated for energy recovery. Landfill space is limited, recycling is only practical for certain types of plastics, and incineration creates emission problems such as toxic dioxins. An alternative technology that seeks to utilize plastic waste is microwave treatment to convert plastic waste into gas or liquid fuel. This technology has the advantage of being able to heat and crack certain molecules because of the unique dielectric heating mechanism. Some plastics, such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), however, are transparent to microwaves and so a microwave absorber, such as carbon, must be mixed with the plastic before treatment. The heat transfers from the absorber to the plastic, which then thermally cracks. In the current study, carbon black and activated carbon, with carbon contents greater than 99%, was used as microwave absorbers for treating HDPE. Under mild microwave treatment conditions - heating at 10 oC/min to 230-260 oC and holding for 30 min using 500 W - HDPE was converted to approximately equal amounts of gas and wax (44% for treatment with carbon black and 48% for treatment with AC) with the remainder as a solid residue. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of the residue indicated the formation of double bonds supporting the proposed mechanism of dehydrogenation reactions. The gas fraction was analyzed with gas chromatography and contained hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and C2-C5 hydrocarbons. Higher hydrogen yields (3.676 mmolH2/gHDPE versus 0.059 mmolH2/gHDPE) were obtained from the mixture containing activated carbon, which has a higher surface area (932 m2/g versus 32 m2/g) than carbon black. A further study of how various parameters impact the product distribution, in particular the hydrogen yield, is ongoing. The preliminary results verify that microwave treatment of HDPE with carbon-based materials generates hydrogen under mild conditions.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

20700 - Environmental engineering

Project

<a href="/en/project/EF16_019%2F0000853" target="_blank" >EF16_019/0000853: Institute of Environmental Technology - Excellent Research</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů