COMPARISON OF SOLVENTS TO SEPARATE ALUMINUM FOIL AND POLYETHYLENE PLASTIC FROM UHT BEVERAGE PACKAGING
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This research aimed to compare the suitable solvent to separate aluminium foil and polyethylene plastic from UHT beverage packaging. The parameters studied were as follows: 1) solvent types; blended organic solvents among benzene, ethanol, and water; mixtures of organic and inorganic acid prepared from acetic acid and nitric acid in the presence of water; and a single organic acid as acetic acid; 2) solvent concentrations; and 3) separating time affecting recovery and loss percentages resulted by those parameters were evaluated. The results reveal that all blended organic solvents could be used to separate aluminium foil from polyethylene plastic based on the principle of dissolution of polar and non-polar solvents. The non-polar solvents created an interaction between the solvent molecule and the polyethylene plastic, while the polar solvent with the acidity formed the ionic interaction with aluminium oxide which caused the polyethylene plastic be separated from aluminium foil. The blended organic solvents consisted of benzene, ethanol and water with the ratio of 35:35:30 at 60o C for 60 minutes could separate polyethylene plastic from aluminium foil. The highest recovery percentage and the loss percentage of 57.78% and 2.68%, respectively, could be obtained. However, the separation process was not complete at this ratio. The mixtures of organic and inorganic acid prepared from 5 vol% of acetic acid, 4 vol% of nitric acid, and water at 60o C for 30 minutes could separate polyethylene plastic and aluminium foil. Likewise, the highest recovery percentage and the loss percentage of 74.20% and 3.55%, respectively, could be obtained. The separation process was not complete at this ratio also. For this research, it could be concluded that the organic acid combined with inorganic acid using 10 vol% of acetic acid and 2 vol% of nitric acid at 60o C for 60 minutes performed the highest recovery percentage of 98.50% and the lowest loss percentage of 1.50%. Moreover, the single organic acids, e.g., 10 vol% of acetic acid at 60o C for 120 minutes performed the highest recovery percentage of 98.04% and the lowest loss percentage of 1.96% without unseparated sample left. Thus, both solvent types were suitable to separate polyethylene plastics and aluminum foils from UHT beverage packaging.
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สำนักวิจัยเศรษฐกิจการเกษตร. (2562) สถานการณ์โคนมโลกและไทย ปี 2562. สืบค้นเมื่อวันที่ 5 เมษายน 2563, จาก http://dairydevelopmentprogram.weebly.com /blog-36153634361936603617362636403586/-2562
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