Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Sustainable Composites Based on Recycled and Stabilized Fly Ash

Abstract

This paper reports the results on the use of an innovative inert, based on stabilized fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration as a filler for polypropylene. The starting material, which contains large quantities of leachable Pb and Zn, was stabilized by means of an innovative process using rice husk ash as a waste silica source, together with other fly ashes, such as coal fly ash and flue gas desulfurization residues. The use of all waste materials to obtain a new filler makes the proposed technology extremely sustainable and competitive. The new composites, obtained by using the stabilized material as a filler for polypropylene, were characterized and their mechanical properties were also investigated. A comparison with a traditional polypropylene and calcium carbonate based compound was also done. This research activity was realized in the frame of the COSMOS-RICE project, financed by the EU Commission.

Polypropylene-based packaging materials for shelf-life enhancement of yellow corn (Zea mays) kernels: Effects on lutein, aflatoxin content, sensory, and nutritional profiles

“…The diffractogram of PP (Figure ) exhibited four characteristic peaks of pure PP at 2θ = 14, 18, 20, and 22°, in agreement with the findings of Besco et al (). PP/PET (Figure ) showed three peaks at 2θ = 22, 27, and 36°, of which the peaks at 27 and 36° corresponded to virgin PET (Demirel et al, ) and 22° corresponded to PP.…”

“…The interplaner spacings (d hkl ) in the crystal structures of PP, PP/PET, and PP/PET/Al laminates were calculated (Table ) from their XRD patterns (Figures ) using Bragg's law as reported by Petrova et al (). The experimental d hkl values were compared with the corresponding values for neat polymer components; for example, data of PP experimental vs PP literature , PP/PET experimental vs. PP literature ‐PET literature , and PP/PET/Al experimental vs. PP literature ‐PET literature ‐Al foil literature (Besco et al, ; Can, Arikan, & Çýnar, ; Demirel, Yara', & Elçiçek, ). The results indicate that there was no significant alteration in d hkl values of PP/PET and PP/PET/Al laminates compared to those of pure PET and Al foil.…”

Effects of different surface modification and contents on municipal solid waste incineration fly ash/epoxy composites

“…Interestingly, the fly ash modified with colloidal mesoporous silica (CMS) showed higher flexural and tensile strengths than silanized fly ash at 10-30% filler contents, indicating that CMS-treated fly ash gave better reinforcing behaviour and interfacial bonding as compared to the silane coupling agents. Studies reported by others (Besco et al, 2014(Besco et al, , 2013) also demonstrated an improvement of both flexural and tensile strengths in polymeric materials with incorporating fly ash treated with colloidal mesoporous silica (CMS) because the surface modification using colloidal mesoporous silica (CMS) would enhance the dispersion of fly ash in the polymer matrix and hence resulted in increase of the mechanical strength of composites. Fig.…”

“…There are few reports in the literature (Sreekanth et al, 2009;Satheesh et al, 2013) of incineration ash being used as fillers for polymeric materials with promising results, as the ash is able to integrate with and disperse homogenously into the polymer matrix. However, these reports were mainly focused on the coal fly ash (Ahmaruzzaman, 2010) or a mixture of coal fly ash, flue gas desulfurization (FGD) fly ash and MSWI fly ash (Besco et al, 2013(Besco et al, , 2014. To date, the use of solely MSWI fly ash into polymer composites has not been reported because it contains more harmful toxic metals, which can be released into the environment through weathering and leaching (Lam et al, 2010).…”

“…The works done by Chaowasakoo and Sombatsompop (2007) suggested that the improved mechanical properties of the epoxy-based composites could be obtained by addition of 0.5 wt% silane coupling agent for surface modification of fly ash using thermal and microwave curing methods. Besco et al (2013Besco et al ( , 2014 reported the results on the use of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) to stabilise and treat fly ash from a mixture of coal fly ash, flue gas desulfurization (FGD) fly ash and municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash as fillers for polypropylene (PP). They found that the polypropylene (PP)-filler composites containing different stabilised fly ash amounts up to 30 wt% showed a significantly enhancement in tensile and flexural elastic moduli together with improvement of flexural resistance and deflection temperature under load.…”