Utilization of epoxy thermoset waste to produce activated carbon for the remediation of nano-plastic contaminated wastewater

Valorization of plastic waste via chemical activation and carbonization into activated carbon for functional material applications

“…A single-stage KOH activation process was also investigated by Blanchard & Mekonnen (2023) with increases in IR from 1 to 2 and activation temperature from 600 to 800 °C. 110 This resulted in a maximum SA of 1728 m 2 g −1 , which is lower compared to the two-stage KOH activation processes but still comparable and takes advantage of a much simpler process design.…”

“…The production of high surface area activated carbon has been reported using physical 108 and chemical activation 109 of the epoxy resin component in waste circuit boards. Additionally, the conversion of cured epoxy to activated carbon has been investigated and applied as an adsorbent material 110 and for supercapacitors. 111 The upcycling of thermoset waste to high value carbon materials is a promising area, but more work is required to investigate more precursors and conversion methods.…”

“…137 This makes K 2 CO 3 very effective in SA development because it only participates in high temperature activation reactions; however, the lack interaction with the feedstock at low temperature can lead to low carbon yield, as was reported in the case of Epoxy activation. 110…”

“…Recently, a plastic epoxy precursor has been activated and investigated for NP adsorption. 110 Unlike the other studies which employed charged PS NPs as the adsorbate, this work used neutrally charged PET NPs. Due to the surface charges, the PS NPs followed monolayer adsorption which was described well by the Langmuir model (Fig.…”

“…159,171 This can be improved by doping the plastic precursor with chemicals such as increased levels of chemical activating agents, which has shown to inhibit volatilization during heat treatment. 110,159 Lastly, there are environmental concerns surrounding the potential release of hazardous volatile compounds during the carbonization process, such as benzoic and terephthalic acids in the case of PET. 218 This issue reinforces the need to improve AC yield such that gaseous emissions are minimized.…”