PMID- 35011334
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20220211
LR  - 20220211
IS  - 1420-3049 (Electronic)
IS  - 1420-3049 (Linking)
VI  - 27
IP  - 1
DP  - 2021 Dec 24
TI  - Pretreatment of Plastic Waste: Removal of Colorants from HDPE Using Biosolvents.
LID - 10.3390/molecules27010098 [doi]
LID - 98
AB  - Plastics recycling remains a challenge due to the relatively low quality of the 
      recycled material, since most of the developed recycling processes cannot deal 
      with the additives present in the plastic matrix, so the recycled products end up 
      in lower-grade applications. The application of volatile organic solvents for 
      additives removal is the preferred choice. In this study, pretreatment of plastic 
      packaging waste to remove additives using biosolvents was investigated. The 
      plastic waste used was high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with blue and orange 
      colorants (pigment and/or dye). The first step was to identify the type of 
      colorants present in the HDPE, and we found that both plastics presented only one 
      colorant that was actually a pigment. Then, limonene, a renewable solvent, was 
      used to solubilize HDPE. After HDPE dissolution, a wide range of alcohols (mono-, 
      di-, and tri-alcohols) was evaluated as antisolvents in order to selectively 
      precipitate the polymer and maximize its purity. The use of limonene as solvent 
      for plastic dissolution, in combination with poly-alcohols with an intermediate 
      alkyl chain length and a large number of hydroxyl (OH) groups, was found to work 
      best as an antisolvent (1,2,3-propanetriol and 1,2,4-butanetriol), leading to a 
      removal of up to 94% and 100% of the blue and orange pigments, respectively. 
      Finally, three cycles of extraction were carried out, proving the capability of 
      the solvent and antisolvent to be recovered and reused, ensuring the economic 
      viability and sustainability of the process. This pretreatment provides a 
      secondary source of raw materials and revenue for the recycling process, which 
      may lead to an increase in the quality of recycled polymers, contributing to the 
      development of an economical and sustainable recycling process.
FAU - Ferreira, Ana M
AU  - Ferreira AM
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-3057-5019
AD  - CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of 
      Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
FAU - Sucena, Isa
AU  - Sucena I
AD  - CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of 
      Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
FAU - Otero, Vanessa
AU  - Otero V
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2336-0773
AD  - LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciencias 
      e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
AD  - VICARTE, Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciencias e 
      Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
FAU - Angelin, Eva Mariasole
AU  - Angelin EM
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-9259-674X
AD  - LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciencias 
      e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
AD  - Conservation Science Department, Deutsches Museum, Museumsinsel 1, 80538 Munich, 
      Germany.
FAU - Melo, Maria Joao
AU  - Melo MJ
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-7393-6801
AD  - LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciencias 
      e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
FAU - Coutinho, Joao A P
AU  - Coutinho JAP
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3841-743X
AD  - CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of 
      Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
LA  - eng
GR  - UIDP/50011/2020/FCT/ MEC/
GR  - UIDB/50011/2020/FCT/ MEC/
GR  - CA18220/COST Action FUR4Sustain- European/
GR  - 2020.00647.CEECIND/FCT-MCTES/
GR  - UIDB/50006/2020/FCT-MCTES/
GR  - UIDP/50006/2020/FCT-MCTES/
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20211224
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Molecules
JT  - Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
JID - 100964009
RN  - 0 (Coloring Agents)
RN  - 0 (Plastics)
RN  - 0 (Solid Waste)
RN  - 0 (Solvents)
RN  - 9002-88-4 (Polyethylene)
SB  - IM
MH  - Coloring Agents/*chemistry
MH  - Plastics/*chemistry
MH  - Polyethylene/*chemistry
MH  - *Solid Waste
MH  - Solvents/*chemistry
MH  - Spectrum Analysis
PMC - PMC8746977
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - additives
OT  - circular economy
OT  - closed-loop recycling
OT  - dissolution-precipitation
OT  - dyes
OT  - high-density polyethylene
OT  - pigments
OT  - solvent extraction
COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2022/01/12 06:00
MHDA- 2022/02/12 06:00
PMCR- 2021/12/24
CRDT- 2022/01/11 01:14
PHST- 2021/11/30 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2021/12/17 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2021/12/21 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/01/11 01:14 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/01/12 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/02/12 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2021/12/24 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - molecules27010098 [pii]
AID - molecules-27-00098 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/molecules27010098 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Molecules. 2021 Dec 24;27(1):98. doi: 10.3390/molecules27010098.