Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene
Government regulations have required consumer products—electrical and electronic components, toys, furniture, clothing, and cars— to meet ever-increasing flame resistance standards, and industry has met these norms by adding brominated fire retardants. However, end-of-life treatment and up-cycling o...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Recycling |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/10/3/105 |
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| author | Mario Ferreiro González Fernanda Cabañas Gac Gregory S. Patience |
| author_facet | Mario Ferreiro González Fernanda Cabañas Gac Gregory S. Patience |
| author_sort | Mario Ferreiro González |
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| description | Government regulations have required consumer products—electrical and electronic components, toys, furniture, clothing, and cars— to meet ever-increasing flame resistance standards, and industry has met these norms by adding brominated fire retardants. However, end-of-life treatment and up-cycling of these plastics is challenging as the brominated compounds are endocrine disruptors, bioaccumulators, and persist in the environment. Pyrolysis, catalytic cracking, or combustion, to recover its fuel value, produces toxic brominated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans Here, we demonstrated the efficacy of a solvothermal treatment that extracts up to 99% of the bromine from high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) and polystyrene (PS) in electrical and electronic waste (e-waste). The process operated between 160 °C and 230 °C with ethylene glycol or triethylene glycol as the solvent and NaOH or KOH as the extraction agent (0.5 M to 2 M). The reaction rates depended on the particle size: 60 mm plastic chunks took up to between 4 and 24 h to react while fibers 3 mm in diameter reacted in less than 5 min. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-32b3d174704445d2b0124ea3345723b6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2313-4321 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Recycling |
| spelling | doaj-art-32b3d174704445d2b0124ea3345723b62025-08-20T03:29:44ZengMDPI AGRecycling2313-43212025-06-0110310510.3390/recycling10030105Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated PolystyreneMario Ferreiro González0Fernanda Cabañas Gac1Gregory S. Patience2Department Chemical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, Succ. “CV”, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, CanadaDepartment Chemical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, Succ. “CV”, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, CanadaDepartment Chemical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, Succ. “CV”, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, CanadaGovernment regulations have required consumer products—electrical and electronic components, toys, furniture, clothing, and cars— to meet ever-increasing flame resistance standards, and industry has met these norms by adding brominated fire retardants. However, end-of-life treatment and up-cycling of these plastics is challenging as the brominated compounds are endocrine disruptors, bioaccumulators, and persist in the environment. Pyrolysis, catalytic cracking, or combustion, to recover its fuel value, produces toxic brominated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans Here, we demonstrated the efficacy of a solvothermal treatment that extracts up to 99% of the bromine from high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) and polystyrene (PS) in electrical and electronic waste (e-waste). The process operated between 160 °C and 230 °C with ethylene glycol or triethylene glycol as the solvent and NaOH or KOH as the extraction agent (0.5 M to 2 M). The reaction rates depended on the particle size: 60 mm plastic chunks took up to between 4 and 24 h to react while fibers 3 mm in diameter reacted in less than 5 min.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/10/3/105fire retardantspolymersrecyclingsolvothermal treatmentalkali debrominationhigh-impact polystyrene |
| spellingShingle | Mario Ferreiro González Fernanda Cabañas Gac Gregory S. Patience Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene Recycling fire retardants polymers recycling solvothermal treatment alkali debromination high-impact polystyrene |
| title | Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene |
| title_full | Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene |
| title_fullStr | Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene |
| title_short | Alkaline Solvothermal Debromination of Commercial Brominated Polystyrene |
| title_sort | alkaline solvothermal debromination of commercial brominated polystyrene |
| topic | fire retardants polymers recycling solvothermal treatment alkali debromination high-impact polystyrene |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/10/3/105 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marioferreirogonzalez alkalinesolvothermaldebrominationofcommercialbrominatedpolystyrene AT fernandacabanasgac alkalinesolvothermaldebrominationofcommercialbrominatedpolystyrene AT gregoryspatience alkalinesolvothermaldebrominationofcommercialbrominatedpolystyrene |