Saleem Junaid, Moghal Zubair Khalid Baig, McKay Gordon
Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar.
Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
J Hazard Mater. 2023 Jul 5;453:131356. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131356. Epub 2023 Apr 5.
Environmental pollution caused by plastic waste and oil spills has emerged as a major concern in recent years. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in exploring innovative solutions to address these challenges. Herein, we report a method to upcycle polyolefins-based plastic waste by converting it into a bimodal super-oleophilic sorbent using dissolution, spin-coating, and annealing techniques. The resulting sorbent possesses an extensive network of pores and cavities with a size range from 0.5 to 5 µm and 150-200 µm, respectively, with an average of 600 cavities per cm. Each cavity can swell up to twenty times the thickness of the sorbent, exhibiting sponge-like behavior. The sorbent had an oil uptake capacity of 70-140 g/g, depending on the type of sorbate and dripping time. Moreover, the sorbent can be mechanically or manually squeezed to recover the sorbed oil. Our integrated methodology provides a promising approach to upcycling plastic waste as an abundant source of value-added materials.
近年来，塑料垃圾和石油泄漏造成的环境污染已成为一个主要问题。因此，人们越来越有兴趣探索创新解决方案来应对这些挑战。在此，我们报告一种通过溶解、旋涂和退火技术将聚烯烃基塑料垃圾升级转化为双峰超亲油吸附剂的方法。所得吸附剂具有广泛的孔隙和空洞网络，其尺寸范围分别为0.5至5微米和150 - 200微米，每平方厘米平均有600个空洞。每个空洞可膨胀至吸附剂厚度的二十倍，表现出类似海绵的行为。根据被吸附物的类型和滴加时间，该吸附剂的吸油能力为70 - 140克/克。此外，可通过机械或手动挤压吸附剂来回收被吸附的油。我们的综合方法为将塑料垃圾作为丰富的增值材料来源进行升级转化提供了一种有前景的途径。
