From Waste to Wealth: Eco-Friendly production of super-sorbents from plastic waste.

The overall aim of this project is to provide a sustainable solution of existing plastic waste by converting it into a series of sorbents for oil and organic removal from wastewater. The waste utilization from one source (plastic waste) to reduce waste from another source (oil/organic clean up from wastewater) can play an important role in environmental development, which is also the fourth pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030. A huge proportion of municipal solid waste accumulated all over the globe is composed of plastic wastes and a large volume of it is either incinerated, disposed of into landfill or leaked into the ocean. The plastic leakage into the seawater has created further problems as around 13m tons of plastic is ingested by seabirds and fish. In addition, it is estimated that 20,000 plastic bottles are produced per second and less than 10% of them are recycled. With this rate, it is projected that if proper recycling measures are not taken then by 2050 ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish. In this project, we will provide a sustainable solution to this problem by utilizing the plastic waste to produce thin films which will then be used for an efficient oil/organic clean-up from wastewater. To achieve this goal, different grades of plastic wastes will undergo solvent blending using shear mixing followed by solvent extraction to form thin porous films. Unlike traditional methods in which non-recyclable polymeric material and solvents are utilized, the proposed research will use recyclable plastic wastes as a precursor along with solvents which are later extracted and re-used. The project will benefit the local public and private sectors interested in either effective utilization of plastic wastes or oil and organic cleanup from waste water. The potential beneficiaries of the study are: 1) Qatar Shell Research and Technology Center. 2) Seashore Group of Companies. 3) Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO). 4) Ministry of Municipality and Environment. It is anticipated that it will lead to open a new direction of using plastic waste as a highly efficient oil-sorbent films. The overall estimated cost requested for this project is 599,922 USD with 479,922 USD as the direct cost and 120,000 USD as the indirect cost for 36 months’ duration. The expected outcomes of the project are listed as follows: • A methodology that produces various sorbents from plastic waste for oil and organic removal from wastewater. • Development of experimental and analytical procedures with repeatable and reproducible results. • A state-of-the-art super-sorbent produced from plastic waste. • Regression model representing factors that affect various parameters of sorbent production. • Techno-financial model of a pilot plant. • To file patents for the commercialization of process and product. • To market our process to different end users for the commercialization. The expected impacts of the project are: • Providing an alternative way to utilize plastic waste for oil and organic clean-up from wastewater. • The project will provide a roadmap of potential plastic wastes application in Qatar • 2 Research Assistants, 1 HBKU PhD student, and 1 QU undergraduate student will receive training in the subject area during the course of the project.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)