The polyolefins production is the largest among all types of plastics given their thermal and chemical stability and low cost, which allows them to be used in a wide variety of products worldwide, including polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) membranes. However, the small percentage of polyolefins being recycled compared to the enormous amount produced has led to severe environmental pollution issues. In addition, the traditional polyolefin membrane fabrication methods utilize mostly toxic non-renewable solvents such as xylenes at high temperatures, causing further negative environmental impact.
The objective of this study is to propose a greener alternative for polyolefins in general and in particular for membrane fabrication. For this, two bio-based solvents (α-pinene and Dlimonene) were proposed to dissolve PP and LDPE, and the resulting films and membrane properties were studied. Hydrophobic PP microporous membranes were obtained by thermally induced phase separation from pristine commercial polymers and plastic waste. They were applied for water-in-toluene emulsion separation. The water rejection was above 95% for membranes fabricated from dope solutions containing 25% pristine PP and 30% waste PP heated at 130°C, suggesting that they could be used in oil spill recovery operations.
This work aims to contribute to the implementation of more sustainable practices in the membrane industry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:kaust.edu.sa/oai:repository.kaust.edu.sa:10754/673853 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Ramírez Martínez, Malinalli |
| Contributors | Nunes, Suzana Pereira, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, Hong, Pei-Ying, Szekely, Gyorgy |
| Source Sets | King Abdullah University of Science and Technology |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | 2022-11-25, At the time of archiving, the student author of this thesis opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this thesis will become available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2022-11-25. |
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