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The plastic components from waste mobile phones were sorted and characterized using visual, spectroscopic and thermal methods. The sustainable strength of the recovered plastics was investigated by comparing their mechanical and thermal properties with commercially used reference materials. The results revealed that the recovered polymers have significant potential to be reused. However, some properties, such as impact strength and tensile modulus, are significantly low compared to virgin materials and need further improvement. The samples were also tested for brominated flame retardants (BFRs) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technique, and the results indicated the absence of BFR in recovered plastics; hence, these can be processed without any risk of BFR toxicity.

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Pervaporation process is a membrane based separation process. Polymer membranes were widely used for separating liquid mixtures using pervaporation process. In this study, composite membranes were prepared by mixing natural graphite (NG) and silicone rubber (QM) using two roll mill. Synthesized composite membrane was used for the separation process. The composite membrane reveals the impressive separation performance of methanol-toluene mixtures with preferential selectivity towards methanol. 10 phr (parts per hundred) natural graphite filled membrane obtained best flux and 15 phr membrane showed better selectivity. Optimal separation performance with the permeation flux of 386% and separation factor 1.5 times compared to QM control membrane is obtained. The study confirmed that increasing toluene feed concentration improved the selectivity of membranes.

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