Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
College
Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Department
Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Committee Chair
Richard Turton.
Abstract
This research work focuses on a chemical process to separate mixed plastics from EOL electronic equipment.;The most prominent components of waste plastics, PC (Polycarbonate), PS (Polystyrene) and ABS (Acylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) from obsolete computers are taken to be samples in this work. Qualitative analysis was carried out to identify these samples using FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscope). Quantitative analysis was performed using Elemental Analyzer to get the calibration curves for PC/PS and PC/ABS. A number of organic solvents were investigated to dissolve the desired samples. A series of separation experiments were carried out with PC/PS, PC/ABS, and PC/PS/ABS mixtures under optimized conditions. Overall mass balances checked for each experiment. Recovery in all experiments in this study is over 95% by making material balance.;Cyclohexane and acetone were appropriate solvents for PS and ABS respectively. Water and ethanol were used as antisolvents. Purity of over 97% of recovered PC is observed for all separation experiments. Both PS and ABS are also purified during the separation process. A preliminary economic analysis was carried out and the feasibility of this chemical separation method is checked.
Recommended Citation
Cheng, Xiufang, "Recycling of plastics derived from end-of-life (EOL) electronic equipment" (2004). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 1531.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/1531