Sabrinna Wulandari  Jongho Choi  Aye Aye Myint  DaeSung Jung  Jaehoon Kim

Vol. 30,  No. 3, pp. 239-247, Sep.  2024
10.7464/ksct.2024.30.3.239

Polypropylene Supercritical carbon dioxide Extraction Volatile organic compounds

PDF

The removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from spent polypropylene (PP) sourced from the bumpers and interiors of used cars was carried out by using high-temperature supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) extraction. The recycled polymers from the bumpers and interiors contained other additives beside PP such as polyethylene (PE), talc, and carbon black, which modified the properties of PP. The crystallinity of the recycled bumper and interior PP was significantly lower than that of the virgin PP pellet. The decomposition temperatures of the recycled bumper and interior PP was slightly higher than that of the virgin PP pellet, while the melting and crystallization points were slightly lower. The effect of process conditions on VOC removal was studied by varying the time (2 ~ 720 min), pressure (6.4 ~ 14 MPa), and temperature (298 ~ 473 K). Since VOC removal at 2 min produced satisfying results, times below 2 min (10 ~ 120 s) were also studied. The main goal of scCO2 extraction was to reduce the xylene content, as the xylene content of the recycled bumpers was higher than the allowable limit. A temperature above 373 K was needed to remove the xylene from the waste PP samples. The optimum condition for VOC removal from bumper waste was determined to be 433 K, 8 MPa, and 60 s. The car interior waste had VOC content within the allowable limit, so no further treatment was needed.