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Page 31
Journal of Chemical Technology and Applications | Volume 2
Annual Spring Conference and Expo on
April 04-05, 2018 | Miami, USA
Chemical Engineering: From
Materials Engineering to Nanotechnology
allied
academies
A
n efficient way to derive values from waste polymers is
through the development of blends and nanocomposites
from the wastes. This will help to enhance the mechanical
properties of the recycled polymers that are often lost
when other methods of recycling are employed. The aim
of this study is to prepare and characterize SnO
2
nanofiller
from recycled expanded polystyrene wastes (rEPS). The
rEPS was obtained from the University of Johannesburg
recycling facility. The rEPS was dispersed in benzene and was
sonicated for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, SnCl
4
.2H
2
O was
added to the mixture and sonicated for another 20 minutes.
It was then subjected to heat at a temperature of 250 °C for
3 hours. The resulting product was characterized using SEM,
EDX, FTIR, TEM, XRD and BET. Based on the results obtained,
spherical-shaped particles between 5 µm and 50 µm were
obtained from the SEM analysis, the EDX showed that tin,
chlorine and oxygen were all present in the synthesised
nanofiller while only carbon and oxygen were present in
the control experiment. The FTIR analysis showed the wider
band at around 3400 cm
-1
and the peak at 1630 cm
-1
. The
TEM showed a particle size between 7 and 12 nm and the
XRD indicated that the material is crystalline with tetragonal
shape and the BET showed isotherm with a microporous
adsorbent. This work demonstrated an efficient method
to upcycle waste polymer in an economical way while the
properties of the polymers would still be retained.
e:
olusolaolt@gmail.comSynthesis and characterization of SnO
2
nanofiller from recycled expanded polystyrene
Olusola Olaitan Ayeleru
1
, Freeman Ntuli
1
, Williams Kehinde Kupolati
2
and
Peter Apata Olubambi
1
1
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
2
Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa