Aragaw Tadele Assefa, Mekonnen Bassazin Ayalew
Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology-Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Bahir Dar Energy Center, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology-Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Environ Syst Res (Heidelb). 2021;10(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s40068-020-00217-x. Epub 2021 Jan 20.
The extensive use and production of PPE, and disposal in the COVID-19 pandemic increases the plastic wastes arise environmental threats. Roughly, 129 billion face masks and 65 billion plastic gloves every month are used and disposed of on the globe. The study aims to identify the polymer type of face masks and gloves and sustainable plastic waste management options.
The identification of polymers, which can help for fuel conversion alternatives, was confirmed by FTIR and TGA/DTA analysis and confirms that the polymeric categories fit for the intended purpose. Moreover, the handling technique for upcycling and the environmental impacts of the medical face mask and glove were discussed. The FTIR result revealed that face masks and gloves are polypropylene and PVC thermoplastic polymer, respectively and they can be easily transformed to fuel energy via pyrolysis. The endothermic peaks around 431 ℃ for medical glove and 175 ℃ for surgical is observed tells that the melting point of the PVC and polypropylene of plastic polymers, respectively. The pyrolysis of the face mask and glove was carried out in a closed reactor at 400 ℃ for 1 h. Conferring to lab-scale processes, liquid, and wax fuel rate of 75%, char of 10%, and the rest non-condensable gases were estimated at the end.
It can be concluded that the medical plastics can be recycled into oil due to their thermoplastics nature having high oil content and the waste to energy conversion can potentially reduce the volume of PPE plastic wastes.
在新冠疫情期间，个人防护装备（PPE）的广泛使用、生产及处置增加了塑料废物，带来环境威胁。全球每月大约使用和处置1290亿个口罩和650亿副塑料手套。本研究旨在确定口罩和手套的聚合物类型以及可持续的塑料废物管理方案。
通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）和热重分析/差示热分析（TGA/DTA）分析确认了聚合物的种类，这有助于寻找燃料转化替代方案，并证实这些聚合物类别符合预期用途。此外，还讨论了升级再造的处理技术以及医用口罩和手套对环境的影响。FTIR结果显示，口罩和手套分别是聚丙烯和聚氯乙烯热塑性聚合物，它们可通过热解轻松转化为燃料能源。观察到医用手套在431℃左右和手术手套在175℃左右出现吸热峰，分别表明了塑料聚合物中聚氯乙烯和聚丙烯的熔点。口罩和手套的热解在封闭反应器中于400℃进行1小时。根据实验室规模的工艺，最终估计液体和蜡状燃料产率为75%，炭产率为10%，其余为不可冷凝气体。
可以得出结论，由于医用塑料具有热塑性且含油率高，可将其回收转化为油，废物到能源的转化有可能减少个人防护装备塑料废物的体积。
