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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
R
apid generation of non-biodegradable polymer wastes
(NBPW) has posed serious environmental and economic
challenges which are now issues of global concern. This
study explored the application of nanofiller material from
polystyrenepolymerwaste (PPW) throughupcycling recycling
process method of the waste material and its incorporation
as reinforcement materials in road construction. The
PPW sample from a recycling facility in Johannesburg was
thermally treated to upcycle the wastes. The PPW sample
was dispersed in an organic solvent, Zr(NO
3
)
4
and was
heated. A corresponding control experiment was carried out
in the absence of Zr(NO
3
)
4
. Afterwards, ZrO
2
nanofiller was
obtained from the resulting product of the first experiment
and another product was obtained from the control
experiment and both were characterized by SEM, EDX,
TEM, FTIR, BET, XRD and TGA. This work demonstrated an
alternative route of upcycling NBPW in a cost-effective and
environmentally friendly ways.
e:
olusolaolt@gmail.comFabrication of ZrO
2
nanofiller from polystyrene polymer waste as reinforcement
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