Polystyrene Degradation by Orange Peel Extract
Abstract
Limonene is a volatile oil was extracted from orange peel using Soxhlet extractor. It is an equipment used for extraction of various oils. Identifications were carried out in terms of appearance, colour, odour, and the percentage yield. Polystyrene is a synthetic aromatic polymer which is made up of monomer styrene. Polystyrene can also be called as thermocol and styrofoam. Citrus peels contains limonene extract which has the capability to degrade polystyrene foam and after the degradation of polystyrene an end product is formed which is like glue and brownish in colour that product can be recycled by fabric industry to form one square foot non-woven fabric used to remove oil by using wet spinning machine. The drawback of this procedure is that very less amount of limonene is produced.
Introduction
Polystyrene is a synthetic aromatic polymer which is made up of monomer styrene, it doesn’t get degraded in environment and remains as it is for hundreds of years. So it was very important to find a solution for this problem so this problem had been solved by degrading the polystyrene with a component called limonene which is found in citrus fruits majorly in orange peel extract. Oranges which are cheap and can be found everywhere like fruit juice industries, and home wastes. Now these citrus peels can be utilized to produce limonene extracts.
The innovation is the result of research as a part of waste management program. It is identified that the thermocol dissolves instantly in a solution of orange peel extract without application of external heat, pressure or acid. This method is highly cheap and energy efficient method for recycling polystyrene and Styrofoam. An expanded type of polystyrene is known as Styrofoam.
It is estimated that less than 15% of polystyrene waste only in being recycled and that a major portion of remaining waste is dumped in landfills. The new process is capable of dissolving polystyrene 5 times better of the 30 million tonnes of citrus fruits produced per annum across the globe. Around 50% is wasted as citrus peel.
A new recycling technique has been developed which uses a natural solvent, d limonene, to shrink expanded polystyrene (EPS). D-Limonene is a natural vegetable oil which is extracted from the peels of citrus fruits and is a good solvent of EPS. Limonene has almost the same solubility as toluene at room temperature. This technique reduces the volume of EPS to about 1/20th of the original. Contracted EPS is recyclable with almost no molecular weight degradation because d-limonene acts as an antioxidant of polystyrene during the heating process.
Polystyrene
Molecular formulae of polystyrene is (C8H8)n. Polystyrene can also be called as thermocol and styrofoam. Polystyrene is an aromatic polymer made up of monomer styrene. It is a long hydrocarbon chain that has group attached to every carbon atom. Styrene is commercially manufactured from petroleum. Polystyrene doesn’t get degraded for hundreds of years, It is slow to degrade and is resistant to photo-oxidation. Hence it is always a focus of controversy among environmentalist. New way of degrading the polystyrene is by using limonene.
Limonene (Orange)
Molecular formulae of limonene is C10H16. Limonene is found in all citrus fruits majorly in orange. It is a major component in the oils of citrus fruits. Recent figures estimate around 20m tonnes of citrus is wasted each year, this waste could yield around 125,000 tonnes of limonene a year. Limonene is a liquid aliphatic hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic monoterpene. Limonene is a building block for the polymer industry. It is transparent to pale yellow in colour. It oxidizes in moist air easily and produce carveol, carvone and limonene. D-isomer gives the fragrance of oranges and is used as flavouring agent in food manufacturing.
Styrene is widely used today because it enables a multitude of products to deliver many benefits that are highly valued by consumers. These benefits include strain durability, comfort and safety. Strengthen military armor create wind power turbines, reduce coal plant emissions and enhance components that makes car and trains lighter and more useful efficient.
The innovation by researchers from IIT Hyderabad won a gold medal in the recently concluded World Invention and Innovation Forum (WIIF) 2017 in Guangdong, China. It takes hundreds of years for polystyrene to be degraded in the natural environment. But in a solution of orange peel extract, it dissolves almost instantly – without the external heat, pressure or acid. The extract was obtained by simply squeezing the orange peels.
A group of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad, has demonstrated a cheaper, low-energy, green way of recycling polystyrene and low density Styrofoam, which is a popular form of expanded polystyrene, using orange peel extract. They have a working prototype, and a pilot-scale machine to recycle polystyrene is under construction. Recycling thermocol will convert a large-volume waste into smaller volume, making it easier for final disposal.
Limonene, which is one of components of the extract, is capable of dissolving polystyrene but was not used for this purpose. “Compared with limonene, the whole extract can dissolve polystyrene five times more,” says Prof. Chandra Shekhar Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad, who has incubated a start-up company at the IIT Hyderabad Technology Incubation Centre. patent had also been filed.
The project has received financial support of Rs.37 lakhs from the Technology Development Board, Department of Science and Technology (DST) under the Waste Management Programme. The innovation also won a gold medal in the recently concluded World Invention and Innovation Forum (WIIF) 2017 in Guangdong, China.
Discussion
The orange peel extract which we have got with the help of Soxhlet unit .it contains a component called limonene which is capable of degrading polystyrene that is thermocol .We have placed that polystyrene in a petri plate containing orange peel extract .So the degradation of polystyrene is been observed. We observed a brownish glue like substance at the end of degradation and that material can be recycled by making a non-woven fabric of one square foot by using wet spinning machine and that fabric is good kitchen cleaning purpose because it absorbs the oil spill.
Limonene is a component which when comes in contact with polystyrene degrades it effectively in an organic way. The citrus waste can be used to extract limonene and this limonene not only degrades polystyrene but also is used in cosmetic industry, pharmaceutical industry and bio based chemical industry.
The results showed the hand squeezed orange, lemon and grapefruit oil peels all worked to deteriorate the Styrofoam plate. The homemade solution and juices did not deteriorate the Styrofoam. The Styrofoam, with the orange oil peel extract, deteriorated the most. It had a 1-cm hole by day four. The lemon oil peel extract was the second best.
Conclusion
From observation and result it is concluded that limonene can degrade polystyrene and the end product can be recycled to get 1 square foot non-woven fabric by using wet spinning machine and that fabric can be used in kitchen to clean water and oil spills.
My conclusion is that hand squeezed orange peel oil disintegrate the Styrofoam plate the best. My hypothesis that hand squeezed lemon peel oil would work the best has to be rejected. It was not as strong as the orange peel oil. All the citrus fruit oil peels I tested were able to disintegrate Styrofoam. Only the oil from the peels, not the juice from the inside of the fruit or homemade solution was able to dissolve the Styrofoam. Next time, I would like to test different variety of citrus fruits to see if they are able to help Styrofoam deteriorate.
References
- Environment, IIT Hyderabad, Plastic Waste, Polystyrene, Research, Science, Technology, Thermocol
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