The Effect of Solvent Combination Ratio to Dissolution Rate of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Waste
Abdul Rajak (a), Dian Ahmad Hapidin (a), Muhammad Miftahul Munir (a,b**) and Khairurrijal Khairurrijal (a,b,*)
a) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences,
b) Research Center for Biosciences and Biotechnology, Institute for Research and Community Services,
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
Corresponding authors:
*krijal[at]fi.itb.ac.id, **miftah[at]fi.itb.ac.id
Abstract
The expanded polystyrene (EPS) is one of polystyrene product, which is lightweight and has a a low density. EPS is widely used for packaging of various products such as electronics and foods products. Many industries use EPS because of its versatility, dimensional stability, cleanliness, and low cost. Unfortunately, the EPS waste are disposable, undegradable and environmentally harmful, which make the recycling of this waste is necessary. However, due to their very low density, the waste in bulk form is uneconomical to transport to the recycle facilities. One way to do to reduce the EPS waste volume is by dissolving them in solvent. An aromatic hydrocarbon, toluene, cyclic hydrocarbon and methylcyclohexan, such as d-limonene and dimethylformamide (DMF) are well-known EPS solvents to dissolve the EPS waste completely. However, each solvent dissolve the EPS differently because each solvent has difference boiling point and evaporation rate. In this study, we reported the difference of dissolution rate of EPS using d-limonene and DMF solvent, as well as their combination. The mass combination ratio of d-limonene and DMF were varied. The dissolution rate and the percentage of volume reduction from each variation were reported.
Keywords: Expanded polystyrene waste, dissolution rate
Topic: Synthesis and Characterization Techniques