Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes

CONTEH, JAINABA

doi:https://doi.org/

E-Thesis 290 views

Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes / JAINABA CONTEH

Swansea University Author: JAINABA CONTEH

E-Thesis – open access under embargo until: 15th June 2027

Abstract

Plastic pollution has led to environmental consequences which also impact the health of animals and humans. A systematic approach of dealing with plastic pollution is to introduce the waste materials into the circular economy by recycling, particularly recycling mixed plastics stream. Plastics being...

Full description

Published:	Swansea 2022
Institution:	Swansea University
Degree level:	Master of Research
Degree name:	MSc by Research
Supervisor:	Orbaek White, Alvin ; Barron, Andrew
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60379

first_indexed	2022-07-04T14:00:36Z
last_indexed	2023-01-13T19:20:27Z
id	cronfa60379
recordtype	RisThesis
fullrecord	<?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2022-07-04T15:30:37.4484174</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>60379</id><entry>2022-07-04</entry><title>Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>3b9de25558315b363936d67676c61cb8</sid><firstname>JAINABA</firstname><surname>CONTEH</surname><name>JAINABA CONTEH</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2022-07-04</date><abstract>Plastic pollution has led to environmental consequences which also impact the health of animals and humans. A systematic approach of dealing with plastic pollution is to introduce the waste materials into the circular economy by recycling, particularly recycling mixed plastics stream. Plastics being a source of carbons means that they can be used to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through chemical vapour deposition. However, the solid state of the plastics must be altered to conform to the liquid delivery system of the chemical vapour deposition. It was determined that mixed plastics can be dissolved simultaneously used a sequential one-pot method firstly in m-cresol at 190 °C followed by the addition of toluene, which was then heated up to 160 °C. Dissolution experiments conducted at different temperatures were performed and the plastic precursors were injected into the CVD reactor using a steel needle. The benchmarking CNT growth conditions determined were gas flow at 1 L/min, catalyst concentration at 7.5% (w/w) and the temperature set at 950 °C. These conditions produced the greatest yield of carbon product. Characterisation of the CNTs produced were performed using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The averaged results obtained for the hydrocolloid, polyester, MF film and toluene/m-cresol precursors for product yield were 204 mg, 206 mg, 255 mg and 310 mg respectively; for G/D ratio were 1.21, 1.16, 1.25 and 1.16 respectively; and for mean CNT diameter were 64 nm, 68.7 nm, 65.8 nm and 62 nm respectively. It was concluded that the addition of plastics to toluene/m-cresol decreased yield but improved the quality of CNTs.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><volume/><journalNumber/><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication>Swansea</placeOfPublication><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>carbon nanotubes, upcycling, plastics, circular economy, chemical vapour deposition, dissolution</keywords><publishedDay>15</publishedDay><publishedMonth>6</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2022</publishedYear><publishedDate>2022-06-15</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><supervisor>Orbaek White, Alvin ; Barron, Andrew</supervisor><degreelevel>Master of Research</degreelevel><degreename>MSc by Research</degreename><degreesponsorsfunders>KESS 2; SALTS Healthcare Ltd</degreesponsorsfunders><apcterm/><lastEdited>2022-07-04T15:30:37.4484174</lastEdited><Created>2022-07-04T14:58:00.3078376</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Uncategorised</level></path><authors><author><firstname>JAINABA</firstname><surname>CONTEH</surname><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>Under embargo</filename><originalFilename>Under embargo</originalFilename><uploaded>2022-07-04T15:24:30.2962280</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>1502436</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>E-Thesis – open access</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><embargoDate>2027-06-15T00:00:00.0000000</embargoDate><documentNotes>Copyright: The author, Jainaba Sallah Conteh, 2022.</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling	2022-07-04T15:30:37.4484174 v2 60379 2022-07-04 Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes 3b9de25558315b363936d67676c61cb8 JAINABA CONTEH JAINABA CONTEH true false 2022-07-04 Plastic pollution has led to environmental consequences which also impact the health of animals and humans. A systematic approach of dealing with plastic pollution is to introduce the waste materials into the circular economy by recycling, particularly recycling mixed plastics stream. Plastics being a source of carbons means that they can be used to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through chemical vapour deposition. However, the solid state of the plastics must be altered to conform to the liquid delivery system of the chemical vapour deposition. It was determined that mixed plastics can be dissolved simultaneously used a sequential one-pot method firstly in m-cresol at 190 °C followed by the addition of toluene, which was then heated up to 160 °C. Dissolution experiments conducted at different temperatures were performed and the plastic precursors were injected into the CVD reactor using a steel needle. The benchmarking CNT growth conditions determined were gas flow at 1 L/min, catalyst concentration at 7.5% (w/w) and the temperature set at 950 °C. These conditions produced the greatest yield of carbon product. Characterisation of the CNTs produced were performed using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The averaged results obtained for the hydrocolloid, polyester, MF film and toluene/m-cresol precursors for product yield were 204 mg, 206 mg, 255 mg and 310 mg respectively; for G/D ratio were 1.21, 1.16, 1.25 and 1.16 respectively; and for mean CNT diameter were 64 nm, 68.7 nm, 65.8 nm and 62 nm respectively. It was concluded that the addition of plastics to toluene/m-cresol decreased yield but improved the quality of CNTs. E-Thesis Swansea carbon nanotubes, upcycling, plastics, circular economy, chemical vapour deposition, dissolution 15 6 2022 2022-06-15 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Orbaek White, Alvin ; Barron, Andrew Master of Research MSc by Research KESS 2; SALTS Healthcare Ltd 2022-07-04T15:30:37.4484174 2022-07-04T14:58:00.3078376 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Uncategorised JAINABA CONTEH 1 Under embargo Under embargo 2022-07-04T15:24:30.2962280 Output 1502436 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true 2027-06-15T00:00:00.0000000 Copyright: The author, Jainaba Sallah Conteh, 2022. true eng
title	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes
spellingShingle	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes JAINABA CONTEH
title_short	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes
title_full	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes
title_fullStr	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes
title_full_unstemmed	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes
title_sort	Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes
author_id_str_mv	3b9de25558315b363936d67676c61cb8
author_id_fullname_str_mv	3b9de25558315b363936d67676c61cb8_***_JAINABA CONTEH
author	JAINABA CONTEH
author2	JAINABA CONTEH
format	E-Thesis
publishDate	2022
institution	Swansea University
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str	School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Uncategorised{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Uncategorised
document_store_str	0
active_str	0
description	Plastic pollution has led to environmental consequences which also impact the health of animals and humans. A systematic approach of dealing with plastic pollution is to introduce the waste materials into the circular economy by recycling, particularly recycling mixed plastics stream. Plastics being a source of carbons means that they can be used to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through chemical vapour deposition. However, the solid state of the plastics must be altered to conform to the liquid delivery system of the chemical vapour deposition. It was determined that mixed plastics can be dissolved simultaneously used a sequential one-pot method firstly in m-cresol at 190 °C followed by the addition of toluene, which was then heated up to 160 °C. Dissolution experiments conducted at different temperatures were performed and the plastic precursors were injected into the CVD reactor using a steel needle. The benchmarking CNT growth conditions determined were gas flow at 1 L/min, catalyst concentration at 7.5% (w/w) and the temperature set at 950 °C. These conditions produced the greatest yield of carbon product. Characterisation of the CNTs produced were performed using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The averaged results obtained for the hydrocolloid, polyester, MF film and toluene/m-cresol precursors for product yield were 204 mg, 206 mg, 255 mg and 310 mg respectively; for G/D ratio were 1.21, 1.16, 1.25 and 1.16 respectively; and for mean CNT diameter were 64 nm, 68.7 nm, 65.8 nm and 62 nm respectively. It was concluded that the addition of plastics to toluene/m-cresol decreased yield but improved the quality of CNTs.
published_date	2022-06-15T09:18:17Z
_version_	1830271264951894016
score	11.060726

Engineering for the circular economy: Upcycling of waste plastic materials from biological and health practices into carbon nanotubes / JAINABA CONTEH

Similar Items