School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin Key Lab of Biomass Wastes Utilization, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin, 300134, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Feb;30(8):19683-19704. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-25353-6. Epub 2023 Jan 18.
Waste masks pose a serious threat to the environment, including marine plastic pollution and soil pollution risks caused by landfills since the outbreak of COVID-19. Currently, numerous effective methods regarding disposal and resource utilization of waste masks have been reported, containing physical, thermochemical, and solvent-based technologies. As for physical technologies, the mechanical properties of the mask-based materials could be enhanced and the conductivity or antibacterial activity was endowed by adding natural fibers or inorganic nanoparticles. Regarding thermochemical technologies, catalytic pyrolysis could yield considerable hydrogen, which is an eco-friendly resource, and would mitigate the energy crisis. Noticeably, the solvent-based technology, as a more convenient and efficient method, was also considered in this paper. In this way, soaking the mask directly in a specific chemical reagent changes the original structure of polypropylene and obtains multi-functional materials. The solvent-based technology is promising in the future with the researches of sustainable and universally applicable reagents. This review could provide guidance for utilizing resources of waste masks and address the issues of plastic pollution.
废弃口罩对环境构成严重威胁，包括 COVID-19 爆发以来的填埋场造成的海洋塑料污染和土壤污染风险。目前，已经报道了许多处理和利用废弃口罩的有效方法，包括物理、热化学和溶剂基技术。对于物理技术，可以通过添加天然纤维或无机纳米粒子来增强基于口罩的材料的机械性能，并赋予其导电性或抗菌活性。对于热化学技术，催化热解可以产生大量的氢气，这是一种环保资源，可以缓解能源危机。值得注意的是，溶剂基技术作为一种更方便、更有效的方法，也在本文中得到了考虑。通过将口罩直接浸泡在特定的化学试剂中，可以改变聚丙烯的原有结构，得到多功能材料。随着可持续和普遍适用试剂的研究，溶剂基技术具有广阔的应用前景。本文的综述为利用废弃口罩资源和解决塑料污染问题提供了指导。
