• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.202-210
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• 2019

In order to maximize the utilization of sewage sludge, a waste from wastewater treatment facility, the residual sewage sludge generated after lipid and carbohydrate extraction for biodiesel and bioethanol production was used to produce bio-oil by pyrolysis. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that sludge pyrolysis mainly occurred between 200 and $550^{\circ}C$ (with peaks formed around 337.0 and $379.3^{\circ}C$) with the decomposition of the main components (carbohydrate, lipid, and protein). Bio-oil was produced using a micro-tubing reactor, and its yield (wt%, g-bio-oil/g-residual sewage sludge) increased with an increase in the reaction temperature and time. The maximum bio-oil yield of 33.3% was obtained after pyrolysis at $390^{\circ}C$ for 5 min, where the largest amount of energy was introduced into the reactor to break the bonds of organic compounds in the sludge. The main components of bio-oil were found to be trans-2-pentenoic acid and 2-methyl-2-pentenoic acid with the highest selectivity of 28.4% and 12.3%, respectively. The kinetic rate constants indicated that the predominant reaction pathway was sewage sludge to bio-oil ($0.1054min^{-1}$), and subsequently to gas ($0.0541min^{-1}$), rather than the direct conversion of sewage sludge to gas ($0.0318min^{-1}$).

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.485-489
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• 2017

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has been widely applied in polymers and packaging industries to produce synthetic fibers, films, drink bottles or food containers. Therefore, it has become one of the major plastic wastes. In this article, glycolysis known as one of the main methods in PET chemical recycling was investigated using a glycol to break down the polymer into a monomer. Glycolysis of PET and ethylene glycol was performed in a micro-tubing reactor under various conditions. The effect of glycolysis conditions on the product distribution was investigated at experimental conditions of the EG/PET ratio of 1~4, the reaction time of 15~90 min and the reaction temperature of $250{\sim}325^{\circ}C$ with Mn and Cu catalysts. The highest yield of bis (2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate monomer (BHET) was obtained as 89.46 wt% under the condition of the reaction temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ and the time of 30 min using 10 wt% $Cu/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ catalyst, with the PET and ethylene glycol ratio of 1 : 2.