Preparation of a Composite Material from Palm Oil Fiber and an Ecological Emulsion of Expanded Polystyrene Post-Consumption

Abstract

The overproduction of plastics and the wide availability of natural fibers that become a source of contamination before ending their useful life, in a context of environmental crisis, has led researchers to study how to integrate them into the production of biocomposites. For this project, the development of a composite material that integrated expanded post-consumer polystyrene (EPS) and palm fiber (OPEFB) was proposed. OPEFB fibers were obtained from palm growers in the region, being processed by drying, grinding and sieving with a particle size (Mesh of 30,40, 50, 60 and 70). To obtain the solvent of the EPS, a volume of orange essential oil (Citrus sinensis) was distilled off by steam and the amount of d-limonene present was quantified using the gas chromatography technique coupled to mass spectrometry. Subsequently, the EPS was dissolved and a solubility of 0.5 g / mL was reached and with this volume a 1: 2 water / EPS-Citrus Sinensis emulsion was formulated which was characterized using the optical microscopy technique and two dyes of different polarity to observe its affinity with both phases, allowing it to be classified as a W/O type macroemulsion. The agglomerates were made by a process of molding, pressing and heating for baking. All the above parameters were kept constant and only the fiber size varied. The tests of resistance to compression and hardness showed that, to a smaller fiber size, less hardness, resistance to compression and stiffness, so the specimens made with mesh fibers (Mesh) No. 40 showed better performance in mechanical tests.

Influence of contents of chemical compositions on the mechanical property of sisal fibers and sisal fibers reinforced PLA composites

“…Los polímeros a base del petróleo son ampliamente utilizados por sus características funcionales en diferentes sectores industriales Leal Filho et al, 2019;Shaghaleh, Xu, & Wang, 2018;Trisia & Ian, 2017). No obstante, estos materiales no son biodegradables y presentan gran problemática ambiental (Gutiérrez-Estupiñán, Gutiérrez-Gallego, & Sánchez-Soledad, 2020;Hidayat, Kiranamahsa, & Zamal, 2019;Leal Filho et al, 2019). Se estima que en el año 2015 se produjeron más de 300 millones de toneladas de residuos plásticos de un solo uso a nivel mundial, de los cuales el 79% se dispusieron en rellenos sanitarios, vertederos o en el medio ambiente, 12% se incineraron y solo el 9% se reciclaron (Jang, Lee, Kwon, Lim, & Jeong, 2020).…”

Composición Elemental Y De Metales Pesados en Los Residuos De Palma en La Amazonia Peru

“…La ceniza producida por el EFB se rocía sobre los cultivos para evitar que los insectos destruyan los cultivos, y también se usa para lavar platos y ollas (Udoetok, 2012). El OPF se ha usado en la fabricación de bloques de hormigón o como mortero de revestimiento de paredes internas (Fokam et al, 2021), en la fabricación de biocompuestos plásticos derivados del petróleo no biodegradables (Gutiérrez-Estupiñán et al, 2020), en calderas para generación de vapor en la mayoría de las plantas extractoras de aceite de palma (Yahayu et al, 2018) y se puede utilizar como sustrato para vermicompostaje (Hernández et al, 2002).…”