Abstract
In this article we discuss a technology developed in our laboratory to recycle and reuse polystyrene waste (e.g. thermocol) into a fabric that can be used for many industrial applications such as cleaning of oil spills and flexible insulation for green buildings. Another novelty of this process is that it also helps in managing citrus fruit peels which are an agro-waste. Apart from recycling polystyrene, these citrus fruit peels can also be used in many other innovative ways such as print transfer medium, making tattoos or as solvent for biopolymers. This work is a demonstration of environmental sustainability using a green and novel approach.
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Acknowledgement
Chandra Shekhar Sharma acknowledges the financial grant received from the Department of Science & Technology under its waste management program to develop this technology at a pilot scale.
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Chandra Shekhar Sharma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad. His research interests are carbon-based hierarchical materials, nature-inspired polymer functional surfaces, electrospun polymers, carbon nanofibers, and carbon-MEMS.
Mudrika Khandelwal is an Associate Professor at IIT Hyderabad in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering. This article is inspired by a course on nature-inspired materials engineering that she teaches undergraduates and postgraduates.
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Sharma, C.S., Khandelwal, M. Polystyrene Recycling to Print Transfer. Reson 26, 1305–1310 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-021-1231-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-021-1231-z