• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.31-44
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• 2020

Recently, plastic recycling has emerged as a social issue, and its importance is increasing. Therefore, this article reviewed the current status and the future directions of domestic plastic recycling. Plastic recycling is major economic and social problems not only in South Korea but also worldwide and is being treated as an important factor for protecting the environment and for sustainability in the next generation. In particular, China, which has been dealing with a large amount of plastic waste generated around the world, has banned importing plastic waste, therefore, other countries have faced the problem of recycling plastics in their countries. In South Korea, the landfill and incineration of the waste are becoming more difficult by the Framework Act on Resources Circulation, therefore, the recycling and reuse of plastics are a very important.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.47-60
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• 2007

Plastic supply and recycling are increasingly becoming matters of social concern. In our country, Extended Producer Responsibility(EPR) system has been adopted in 2003 to expand recycle and reuse of waste resources at producer side, and due to expansion of the EPR system, amount of the mixed plastic waste generation has been drastically increased. Plastic-plastic separation is most fundamental technique to achieve effective plastic recycling. This paper reviews recent developments in plastic-plastic separation techniques and describe future tasks. The mechanisms of each separation which contain gravity separation, electrostatic separation, flotation, and separation of automotive shredder residue are described, and commercial scale and lab-scale results are introduced.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.66-75
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• 2015

Disposable diaper waste is consisted of plastic, fiber, and SAP (Super Absorbent Polymer). They are valuable to be used as raw materials of other products including plastic blocks and pulp mold. Nevertheless, disposable diaper waste have been disposed by landfill and incineration without recycling. Due to strict environmental regulations it is necessary to develop fractionation technique to recycle the disposable diaper waste. In this study the fractionation technique using pilot-scale stock preparation units was investigated. Process for separation of plastic and fibers from disposable diaper waste was composed by the combination of pilot-scale pulper, drum screen, screen and cleaner. Recovery rate of plastics and fiber was checked according to the various operating conditions. In drum screen, recovery rate of plastic was high when the cut size of disposable diaper waste was $5cm{\times}5cm$. The highest recovery rate of fiber was achieved with 0.3 mm slot screen. It is important to control the neutral state of SAP for improvement of recovery rate of fiber since SAP can be swelled easily in water. Therefore SAP can be controlled efficiently by the addition of calcium chloride into the pulper. Consequently recovery rates of plastics and fibers were over 90 and 80% under the optimum pilot operating conditions.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.35-57
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• 2023

Majority of the plastic produced each year is being disposed in land after single-use, which becomes waste and takes up a lot of storage space. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find alternative solutions instead of disposal. Recycling and reusing the PET plastic waste as aggregate replacement and fiber in concrete production can be one of the eco- friendly methods as there is a great demand for concrete around the world, especially in developing countries by raising human awareness of the environment, the economy, and Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a key development in concrete technology that offers a number of attractive features over traditional concrete applications. Recently, in order to improve its durability and prevent such plastics from directly contacting the environment, various kinds of plastics have been added. This review article summarizes the latest evident on the performance of SCC containing recycled PET as eco-friendly aggregates and fiber. Moreover, it highlights the influence of substitution content, shape, length, and size on the fresh and properties of SCC incorporating PET plastic. Based on the findings of the articles that were reviewed for this study, it is observed that SCC made of PET plastic (PETSCC) can be employed in construction era owing to its acceptable mechanical and fresh properties. On the other hand, it is concluded that owing to the lightweight nature of plastic aggregate, Reusing PET waste in the construction application is an effective approach to reduces the earthquake risk of a building.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.511-512
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• 2018

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.601-607
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• 2023

Pyrolysis oil (C5-C20) produced using plastic non-oxidative pyrolysis technology produces naphtha oil (C5-C10) through a separation process, and naphtha oil produces hydrogen through a reforming reaction to secure economic efficiency and social and environmental benefits. In this study, waste plastic pyrolysis oil was subjected to a steam reforming reaction on a commercialized catalyst of 46-3Q And it was found that the 46-3Q catalyst reformed the pyrolysis oil to produce hydrogen. Therefore, an experiment was performed to increase hydrogen yield and minimize the byproduct of ethylene. The reaction experiment was performed using actual waste plastic oil (C8-C11) with temperature, steam/carbon ratio (S/C) ratio, and space velocity as variables. We studied reaction conditions that can maximize hydrogen yield and minimize ethylene byproducts.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.505-516
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• 2023

Plastic's ease of processing drives its growing production, resulting in a surge of plastic waste. Addressing this issue, catalytic upcycling emerges as a promising remedy. Various metals (Ru, Pt, etc.) and supports (TiO₂, CeO₂, etc.) have been employed for the chemical recycling of polyolefin plastics. Strategies to enhance liquid fuel selectivity and minimize methane include manipulating particle size, introducing heterogeneous metals, and tuning support characteristics. Simultaneously, endeavors to optimize catalysts by reducing precious metal usage were pursued. This study explores enhancing economic viability in hydrogenolysis and hydrocracking reactions, underscoring the potential of catalystdriven upcycling to tackle plastic waste.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.562-568
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• 2003

Environmental problems due to waste tire and waste plastics let us develop practical and economically feasible products. For this purpose, the characteristics of waste tire/plastic composites including various additives were examined using internal mixer. Experimental results indicated that the tensile strength and the flexural strength of waste tire/plastic composites decreased with the waste tire content. When 20 wt% of PP was added to the waste tire (60 wt%)/HDPE composites, the tensile strength was 1.5 times higher than the composite without PP, It was also found that the strain at break of composites increased by 2.5 times with 10 wt% addition of ethylene vinyl acetate and styrene ethylene butylenes styrene respectively. When 10 wt% of glass fiber was added to waste tire (60 wt%)/ HDPE composites, the tensile strength was 63% higher than the composite without glass fiber.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.227-234
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• 2002

With the increasing environmental consideration and stricter regulations, gasification of waste is considered to be more attractive technology than conventional incineration for energy recovery as well as material recycling. The experiment for combustible waste mixed with plastic and cellulosic materials was performed in the fixed bed gasifier to investigate the gasification behavior with the operating conditions. Waste pelletized with a diameter of 2~3cm and 5cm of length was gasified at the temperature range of 1100~145$0^{\circ}C$. It was shown that the composition of H$_2$ was in the range of 30~40% and CO 15~30% depending upon oxygen/waste ratio. Casification of waste due to thermoplastic property from mixed plastic melting and thermal cracking shows a prominent difference from that of coal or coke. It was desirable to maintain the top temperature up to foot to ensure the mass transfer and uniform reaction through the packed bed. As the bed height was increased, the formation of H$_2$ and CO was increased whilst $CO_2$ decreased by the char-$CO_2$ reaction and plastic cracking. From the experimental results, the cold gas efficiency was around 61% and heating values of product gases were in the range of 2800~3200㎉/Nm3.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.399-411
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• 2020

This study aims to explore how elementary students perceive and approach the issue of plastic debris in marine habitats by examining students' perspectives on the ecosystem and environmental solutions. The study was conducted to 143 Grade Four elementary school students in Seoul. After implementing two class-units on plastic waste, students' constructed responses on the problem of and solutions to plastic debris in marine habitats were collected. Data were analyzed through semantic network analysis and the keywords were visualized to reflect their relationships. Furthermore, students' responses on how they perceive environmental problems were further analyzed based on the following analysis criteria: students' perspectives on the ecosystem, the level of complexity of food chain(s), and the scope of their perspective. Also, student responses on environmental solutions were classified to be either at a personal or social level. Through semantic network analysis, keywords identified for students' perceptions on the problem were the sea, plastic, debris, animals, living things, humans, extinction, while keywords extracted for the solutions were plastic, debris, recycling, disposable, and I. Based on the analysis criteria, it was found that students were well aware of the food chain concept, could perceive the ecosystem as having comprised of both biotic and abiotic factors, and could approach the problem beyond the scope of the marine environment. Also, most students mentioned the solutions only at a personal level. Based on the findings, implications on how to move forward in educating environmental issues related to the ecosystem in science education is further discussed.