The paper presents an assessment of the impact of using additives on the strength of a binding material, i.e., building gypsum, and also the phase transformation that takes place in it. Microspheres, aerogel and polymer (HEMC) additives were added to a building gypsum slurry with a water to gypsum ratio of 0.75. In order to investigate their influence on bending strength, compressive strength, and the effect of high temperatures, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as tests of the multicomponent binder, were carried out in accordance with the applicable PN-EN 13279-2:2005 standard. The obtained test results allowed to determine that the used additives influenced the strength parameters of the obtained composites. It was shown that the applied additives decreased the compressive and bending strength of the modified gypsum. Despite these properties, the obtained gypsum materials are environmentally friendly because they reuse wastes, such as microspheres. Out of all the applied additives, the use of microspheres in an amount of 10% caused a decrease in the bending strength by only 10%, and an increase in the compressive strength by 4%.

The evaluation of the possibilities to use coaltar pitch modified with waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) or phenol-formaldehyde resin for the preparation of activated carbons was carried out. The measurement of thermal analysis (DSC), softening point, coking value, content of components insoluble in toluene and quinoline of pitchpolymer compositions were carried out. Coal-tar pitch and pitch-polymer compositions were carbonized and activated with steam at 800°C to 50 % burn-off. For the obtained activated carbons the determination of thermal analysis (DSC), BET surface area on the basis of volumetric lowtemperature adsorption of nitrogen, mesopore, and micropore volume from benzene adsorption/desorption isotherms (gravimetric McBain-Bakr method) were carried out.

Zastosowanie odpadów poli(tereftalanu etylenu) lub ¿ywicy fenolowo-formaldehydowej do otrzymywania wêgli aktywnychStreszczenie -Przedstawiono wyniki badañ dotycz¹cych zastosowania odpadów poli(tereftalanu etylenu) lub ¿ywicy fenolowo-formaldehydowej w mieszaninie z pakiem wêglowym, do otrzymywania adsorbentów wêglowych. Sporz¹dzono kompozycje zawieraj¹ce pak wêglowy oraz odpad polimerowy w ilooeci 10-50 % mas. i oznaczono ich wybrane w³aoeciwooeci fizykochemiczne. Wytworzone kompozycje poddano karbonizacji i aktywacji par¹ wodn¹ lub wodorotlenkiem potasu. Okreoelono liczbê adsorpcji jodu (LJ), liczbê metylenow¹ (LM), powierzchniê w³aoeciw¹ (S BET ) oraz wytrzyma³ooeae mechaniczn¹ otrzymanych wêgli aktywnych. Oceniano tak¿e ich przydatnooeae w wybranych procesach adsorpcyjnych, np. do oczyszczania oecieków przemys³owych. S³owa kluczowe: poli(tereftalan etylenu), ¿ywica fenolowo-formaldehydowa, pak wêglowy, kompozycje polimerowo-pakowe, wêgiel aktywny. THE USE OF WASTE POLY(ETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE) AND PHENOL-FORMALDE-HYDE RESIN FOR THE PREPARATION OF ACTIVATED CARBONSSummary -The results of studies investigating the use of waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) or phenol-formaldehyde resin in a composition with coal-tar pitch for the preparation of activated carbons have been presented. Polymer-pitch compositions containing 10-50 wt. % waste polymer were prepared and their selected physicochemical properties determined. The compositions were carbonized and activated with steam or potassium hydroxide. For the as-prepared activated carbons the iodine adsorption value (LJ), methylene number (LM), specific surface (S BET ) and mechanical properties were determined. The obtained activated carbons were also tested for applicability in selected adsorption processes, such as industrial wastewater treatment.

In this work, the results of studies on the evaluation of colloidal structure of coal-tar pitch compositions with selected waste polymers by fluorescence microscope. For pitch-polymer compositions containing 10–50 wt% waste polymer, softening point, coking value and content of components insoluble in toluene and quinoline were carried out. The results indicate that pitch-polymer compositions can be treated as microheterogeneous systems, colloidal and biphase, generally exhibiting uniform dispersion of particles composed of polymer macromolecules and probably of α components of coal-tar pitch.