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Case Studies
Published in Caroline O’Donnell, Dillon Pranger, The Architecture of Waste, 2020
Caroline O’Donnell, Dillon Pranger
As an alternative, since the early 1970s, researchers have studied the possibilities of biodegrading polystyrene and other plastic wastes by microorganisms. Polystyrene biodegradation capabilities in a variety of fungi, soil invertebrates, and microbial communities (including sludge, soils, manures, trash, and decaying plastics) were investigated, but after a considerable time span the biodegradation proved to be extremely slow. Later, in the early 2000s, several middle and high school students working on science fair projects reported on the successful consumption of EPS by mealworms (the larval stage of Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, a holometabolic insect). Unfortunately, these experiments did not receive serious attention until some 15 years later, when scholars from Stanford University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Beihang University decided to run a series of studies on mealworms’ EPS chewing and eating behavior, as well as the mealworms’ gut bacterium (Exiguobacterium) biodegradation capability.3
Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling
Published in Robert E. Landreth, Paul A. Rebers, Municipal Solid Wastes, 2020
Polystyrene decomposes into styrene and various aromatic compounds. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) breaks down into a variety of hydrocarbons and also hydrogen chloride. The latter is removed separately. The reactor operates as a fluidized bed with hot combustion gases rising through and over sand which rises and falls in a boiling type of motion. Flakes of polymer coming in contact with this hot bed have their chemical chains broken apart thermally under a high rate of heat transfer from the sand to the polymer. Contaminant solids and filler materials such as titanium dioxide-based pigments are deposited in the sand. The BPC plant is expected to process over 200 lbs of plastics per hour. Given sufficient markets for the oil derived from plastics, this type of recycling may be more cost effective than traditional multiple resin secondary recycling, which always results in products with quality characteristics that are inferior to those of the original virgin plastics used as feedstock.
Environmental Hazards and Their Management
Published in Danny D. Reible, Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering, 2017
The use of polystyrene vs. paper cups — Polystyrene cups were found to produce slightly less waste to air or water and less industrial and post-consumer waste than either low density polyethylene coated paperboard cups or wax coated paperboard cups. In addition, of course, polystyrene is 100% recyclable although there are no economically viable recycling systems in operation and this was not considered.
Geopolymer synthesis by the alkali-activation of blastfurnace steel slag and its fire-resistance
Published in HBRC Journal, 2018
Nour T. Abdel-Ghani, Hamdy A. Elsayed, Sara AbdelMoied
Nowadays, polystyrene material is used in construction industry due to the advantages such as light weight (density = 1.4 gm/cm3), sound abatement and energy saving. Polystyrene is widely used in manufacturing lightweight panels for walls, roofs and partitions. The panels are coated with concrete reinforced with steel wire grids Figs. 5 and 6.