Journal
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Volume 329, Issue -, Pages 84-91Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.01.027
Keywords
ABS; ABS/PC blend; Microwave treatment; Separation; Froth flotation; Hydrophilicity
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Funding
- Research Funds of the University of Ulsan, Ulsan, Korea
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This study reports a simple and facile method to separate plastic wastes of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and ABS-based plastics (blends of ABS) in waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) by froth flotation after inducing hydrophilization by ZnO coating under microwave treatment. ABS-based plastics containing brominated flame retardants (BFRs) can release hazardous substances, such as hydrogen bromide and brominated dioxins, during disposal or recycling activities. ABS and ABS-based plastics are typical styrene plastics with similar properties and it is, therefore, difficult to separate them selectively for recycling. We used 2-min microwave treatment to rearrange and change the molecular mobility on the surface of the ZnO-coated ABS with increased hydrophilic surfaces, which eased the selective separation of the ABS/polycarbonate (PC) blend containing BFRs from the remaining plastics. Therefore, the combined ZnO coating and microwave treatments can facilitate the selective separation of ABS/PC blend plastics with a recovery and purity of 100% and 91.7%, respectively, in a short flotation time of 2 min. Based on these findings, the combination of ZnO coating-microwave treatment and froth flotation can be applied for the selective separation of ABS-based plastics, leading to improved plastic recycling quality. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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