(371j) Porous Carbon from Non-Recyclable Plastic Wastes

Styrofoam is the brand name forextruded polystyrene, which is one of the least recyclable plastics used all over the world. Styrofoam is used in many items, for example, packing materials, single-use cups, plates, glass, or food containers. It has the least recycling value, most of it is ultimately ended up in landfill waste. In this research, Styrofoam is converted to porous carbon after chemical modification of the Styrofoam. In the course of the research, it was observed that pristine Styrofoam has no char yield, however, prior chemical modification of Styrofoam yields a significant amount of char that can be converted to porous carbon in the subsequent steps by physical or chemical modification. In this research, different reaction parameters of Styrofoam modification and synthesis of porous carbon were investigated. The resultant porous carbon was characterized by pore textural properties, including BET surface area and pore size distribution, surface functionalities by FTIR and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and shape and size by electron microscopy. The porous carbon was utilized for removing various pollutants from water.