{"id":122593,"date":"2023-02-14T07:13:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T06:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=122593"},"modified":"2023-02-13T09:34:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T08:34:54","slug":"upcycled-plastic-membrane-helps-clean-up-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/upcycled-plastic-membrane-helps-clean-up-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcycled plastic membrane helps clean up waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p><strong>Plastic waste can be used as a raw material for making high performance porous membranes. These could then be used in the chemical industry for the energy-efficient separation of complex chemical mixtures or to clean up waste streams, further\u00a0adding to the environmental appeal of the process.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"748\" height=\"363\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/02\/image-10.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-122601\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/02\/image-10.jpeg 748w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/02\/image-10-300x146.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/02\/image-10-150x73.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2023\/02\/image-10-400x194.jpeg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><figcaption>A hydrophobic microporous membrane made from plastic waste could make industrial chemical separations more environmentally friendly. \u00a9 2023 KAUST; Morgan Bennett Smith.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Polymeric membranes could be great partners for addressing many sustainability challenges, says Malinalli Ram\u00edrez Mart\u00ednez, a Ph.D. student who led the research in Suzana Nunes\u2019 group at KAUST. Thanks to their selectively permeable porous structure, they can reduce the environmental footprint of industrial separations, help in the treatment of waste effluent and create access to fresh water, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cHowever, traditional membrane fabrication approaches mostly use pristine fossil-based nonrenewable materials, which has a negative environmental impact and contradicts the sustainability benefits,\u201d <strong>Ram\u00edrez Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> says.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWe wanted to take polymeric membrane sustainability one step further by replacing some of the conventional materials used for their fabrication with bio-based solvents and waste plastics, following the principles of circular economy and green chemistry.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"BorlabsCookie _brlbs-cb-vimeo\"><div class=\"_brlbs-content-blocker\"> <div class=\"_brlbs-embed _brlbs-video-vimeo\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"_brlbs-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/borlabs-cookie\/assets\/images\/cb-no-thumbnail.png\" alt=\"Vimeo\"> <div class=\"_brlbs-caption\"> <p>By loading the video, you agree to Vimeo&#8217;s privacy policy.<br><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/privacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a><\/p> <p><a class=\"_brlbs-btn _brlbs-icon-play-white\" href=\"#\" data-borlabs-cookie-unblock role=\"button\">Load video<\/a><\/p> <p><label><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"unblockAll\" value=\"1\" checked> <small>Always unblock Vimeo<\/small><\/label><\/p> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><div class=\"borlabs-hide\" data-borlabs-cookie-type=\"content-blocker\" data-borlabs-cookie-id=\"vimeo\"><script type=\"text\/template\">PGlmcmFtZSB0aXRsZT0iVXBjeWNsZWQgcGxhc3RpYyBtZW1icmFuZSBoZWxwcyBjbGVhbiB1cCB3YXN0ZSIgc3JjPSJodHRwczovL3BsYXllci52aW1lby5jb20vdmlkZW8vNzk2MDAzMTE3P2RudD0xJmFtcDthcHBfaWQ9MTIyOTYzIiB3aWR0aD0iNTAwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjI4MSIgZnJhbWVib3JkZXI9IjAiIGFsbG93PSJhdXRvcGxheTsgZnVsbHNjcmVlbjsgcGljdHVyZS1pbi1waWN0dXJlOyBjbGlwYm9hcmQtd3JpdGU7IGVuY3J5cHRlZC1tZWRpYTsgd2ViLXNoYXJlIiByZWZlcnJlcnBvbGljeT0ic3RyaWN0LW9yaWdpbi13aGVuLWNyb3NzLW9yaWdpbiI+PC9pZnJhbWU+<\/script><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>KAUST Ph.D. student Malinalli Ram\u00edrez Mart\u00ednez describes how the team developed the membrane from plastic waste. \u00a9 2023 KAUST<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Polyolefin plastics make up almost half of all discarded items in plastic waste streams. \u201cPolyolefins are very popular due to their low cost and high thermal and chemical stability,\u201d Ram\u00edrez Mart\u00ednez says. \u201cWe find them in food packaging, reusable bags, shampoo bottles, toys and many more products.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><p>These same properties make polyolefins attractive for producing hydrophobic microporous membranes for oil purification and other industrial purification processes. \u201cHowever, the main challenges for processing polyolefins into porous membranes are the high temperatures required to dissolve them \u2014 commonly between 140 and 250 degrees Celsius \u2014 and the limited range of solvents that can be used, most of them fossil-fuel based.\u201d<\/p><p>Two bio-based solvents can significantly improve the sustainability of this process, the team has now shown. \u201cWe found that terpenes \u2014 naturally abundant renewable solvents derived from nonfood biomass \u2014 could dissolve polyolefins at just 130 degrees Celsius,\u201d Ram\u00edrez Mart\u00ednez says. \u201cSecondly, using these solvents we successfully made polypropylene membranes using plastic waste from food packaging, transforming single-use plastics into high-performance materials.\u201d<\/p><p>These membranes proved adept at separating the water-in-oil emulsions that can be generated by certain industrial processes. \u201cThe rejection values and oil purity we recorded were comparable to state-of-the-art membranes reported in the literature,\u201d Ram\u00edrez Mart\u00ednez says. \u201cWe consider it a great achievement to have proved that membranes prepared from plastic waste can have a competitive performance compared to those made from pristine materials.\u201d<\/p><p>Nunes also notes the wider applicability of this work. &#8220;Polyolefins are soluble only in a few solvents such\u00a0as decalin. Finding solvent alternatives, particularly bio-based solvents, is relevant not only for membrane fabrication,\u201d she adds.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">References<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" id=\"references\"><li>Ram\u00edrez-Mart\u00ednez, M., Aristiz\u00e1bal, S.L., Szekely, G. &amp; Nunes, SP. Bio-based solvents for polyolefin dissolution and membrane fabrication: from plastic waste to value-added materials.&nbsp;<em>Green Chemistry<\/em>advance online publication, 30 November&nbsp;2022.|&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1039\/d2gc03181g\">article<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plastic waste can be used as a raw material for making high performance porous membranes. These could then be used in the chemical industry for the energy-efficient separation of complex chemical mixtures or to clean up waste streams, further\u00a0adding to the environmental appeal of the process. Polymeric membranes could be great partners for addressing many [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Plant-derived biosolvents enable the sustainable conversion of plastic waste into valuable membrane materials","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[13085,10416,10408,16040,14859,13345,17696,15515],"supplier":[9018,6051],"class_list":["post-122593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biosolvents","tag-circulareconomy","tag-greenchemistry","tag-membrane","tag-plantbased","tag-plastic","tag-polyolefin","tag-upcycling","supplier-green-chemistry-journal","supplier-king-abdullah-university-of-science-and-technology-kaust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122593"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=122593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}