2023-04-28 19:45:57
A group of Brazilian and British scientists discovered a new way to recycle coffee capsules plastic. With more and more people using it, the waste generated by this type of packaging has increased significantly in the country.
Today, “espresso waste” is still not recycled in Brazil on a scale that can match the total generated. The discovery of scientists, however, may resolve this issue.
The new strategy of recycling will allow the capsules to be transformed into raw material for the manufacture of filaments of 3D printing. That is: they can be used by printers to produce various objects.
The research results were published in the scientific journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry e Engineering. The data was received with optimism by the sector.
Recycling
Today, the reuse of coffee capsules is a one-off thing. Most packaging prevents them from being reused. The only exception are those made with higher quality materials that allow the user to recharge themselves.
Some brands have recycling programs that include aluminum packaging, but most of them end up in the trash. As they are unitary and used daily, the amount of waste is very high.
A survey carried out by scientists from the Technological Research Institute (IPT) revealed, for example, that drinking capsule coffee can be up to 14 times more harmful to the environment than passing it through a paper strainer. The new recycling strategy should minimize this impact.
How it works?
According to one of the co-authors of the study, the polymeric base obtained from the used capsules can generate 3D devices with high added value.
Coordinator of the Laboratory of Sensors, Nanomedicine and Nanostructured Materials (LSNano) at UFSCar, Bruno Campos Janegitz believes that this can stimulate interest in recycling these packages.
During the research, the scientists produced filaments, conductors and non-conductors, using the polymer from the capsules and discovered that they can even be adopted in parts for machines and sensors.
Necessary processes
What will define the use of filaments will be whether or not they are conductors. And for each case, there is a different recycling method:
- To obtain the non-conductive material, the PLA capsules need to be washed and dried. Then pass them through extrusion in a hot system;
- For the conductive material, you also need to wash and dry all the material. The difference is that before heating and extrusion, carbon black — a paracrystalline form of carbon — needs to be added. Afterwards, the extruded material is cooled and wound, giving rise to filaments.
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