High-purity polypropylene from disposable face masks via solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation

Jiuling Yu; Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López; Victor S. Cecon; Kevin L. Sánchez-Rivera; Kevin Nelson; Jiayang Wu; Shreyas Kolapkar; Victor M. Zavala; Greg W. Curtzwiler; Keith L. Vorst; Ezra Bar-Ziv; George W. Huber

doi:10.1039/d3gc00205e

High-purity polypropylene from disposable face masks via solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation

Jiuling Yu, Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López, Victor S. Cecon, Kevin L. Sánchez-Rivera, Kevin Nelson, Jiayang Wu, Shreyas Kolapkar, Victor M. Zavala, Greg W. Curtzwiler, Keith L. Vorst, Ezra Bar-Ziv, George W. Huber

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The high use of disposable face masks since the start of COVID-19 has globally generated 4.68-6.24 million tons per year of waste from personal protective equipment. Disposable face masks are generally disposed of in landfills. Polypropylene (PP) is the main component in face masks, which is one of the least recycled plastics but has a high market value. In this work, we extract high-quality PP from face masks using solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) with 90 wt% recovery. N,N-Dimethylacetamide removed the color from the recovered PP to produce a clear high-purity PP, as verified by CIELAB color space. The decolored PP shows similar thermochemical properties and color to virgin PP resin. A techno-economic analysis of the process indicates that high-purity PP recovery can be economically viable at a scale of 5000 tons per year or higher.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4723-4734
Number of pages	12
Journal	Green Chemistry
Volume	25
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d3gc00205e
State	Published - 24 May 2023
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Chemistry
Pollution

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1039/d3gc00205e

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@article{9eb8e15ea63342118935e4810fc61bc6,

title = "High-purity polypropylene from disposable face masks via solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation",

abstract = "The high use of disposable face masks since the start of COVID-19 has globally generated 4.68-6.24 million tons per year of waste from personal protective equipment. Disposable face masks are generally disposed of in landfills. Polypropylene (PP) is the main component in face masks, which is one of the least recycled plastics but has a high market value. In this work, we extract high-quality PP from face masks using solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) with 90 wt% recovery. N,N-Dimethylacetamide removed the color from the recovered PP to produce a clear high-purity PP, as verified by CIELAB color space. The decolored PP shows similar thermochemical properties and color to virgin PP resin. A techno-economic analysis of the process indicates that high-purity PP recovery can be economically viable at a scale of 5000 tons per year or higher.",

author = "Jiuling Yu and Mungu{\'i}a-L{\'o}pez, {Aurora del Carmen} and Cecon, {Victor S.} and S{\'a}nchez-Rivera, {Kevin L.} and Kevin Nelson and Jiayang Wu and Shreyas Kolapkar and Zavala, {Victor M.} and Curtzwiler, {Greg W.} and Vorst, {Keith L.} and Ezra Bar-Ziv and Huber, {George W.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",

year = "2023",

month = may,

day = "24",

doi = "10.1039/d3gc00205e",

language = "English",

volume = "25",

pages = "4723--4734",

journal = "Green Chemistry",

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publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - High-purity polypropylene from disposable face masks via solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation

AU - Yu, Jiuling

AU - Munguía-López, Aurora del Carmen

AU - Cecon, Victor S.

AU - Sánchez-Rivera, Kevin L.

AU - Nelson, Kevin

AU - Wu, Jiayang

AU - Kolapkar, Shreyas

AU - Zavala, Victor M.

AU - Curtzwiler, Greg W.

AU - Vorst, Keith L.

AU - Bar-Ziv, Ezra

AU - Huber, George W.

PY - 2023/5/24

Y1 - 2023/5/24

N2 - The high use of disposable face masks since the start of COVID-19 has globally generated 4.68-6.24 million tons per year of waste from personal protective equipment. Disposable face masks are generally disposed of in landfills. Polypropylene (PP) is the main component in face masks, which is one of the least recycled plastics but has a high market value. In this work, we extract high-quality PP from face masks using solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) with 90 wt% recovery. N,N-Dimethylacetamide removed the color from the recovered PP to produce a clear high-purity PP, as verified by CIELAB color space. The decolored PP shows similar thermochemical properties and color to virgin PP resin. A techno-economic analysis of the process indicates that high-purity PP recovery can be economically viable at a scale of 5000 tons per year or higher.

AB - The high use of disposable face masks since the start of COVID-19 has globally generated 4.68-6.24 million tons per year of waste from personal protective equipment. Disposable face masks are generally disposed of in landfills. Polypropylene (PP) is the main component in face masks, which is one of the least recycled plastics but has a high market value. In this work, we extract high-quality PP from face masks using solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP) with 90 wt% recovery. N,N-Dimethylacetamide removed the color from the recovered PP to produce a clear high-purity PP, as verified by CIELAB color space. The decolored PP shows similar thermochemical properties and color to virgin PP resin. A techno-economic analysis of the process indicates that high-purity PP recovery can be economically viable at a scale of 5000 tons per year or higher.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161598136&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1039/d3gc00205e

DO - 10.1039/d3gc00205e

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85161598136

SN - 1463-9262

VL - 25

SP - 4723

EP - 4734

JO - Green Chemistry

JF - Green Chemistry

IS - 12

ER -

High-purity polypropylene from disposable face masks via solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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