A Sustainable Approach to the Low-Cost Recycling of Waste Glass Fibres Composites towards Circular Economy

Omid Zabihi, Mojtaba Ahmadi, Chao Liu, Roya Mahmoodi, Quanxiang Li, Mahmoud Reza Ghandehari Ferdowsi and Minoo Naebe
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Omid Zabihi: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Mojtaba Ahmadi: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Chao Liu: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Roya Mahmoodi: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Quanxiang Li: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Mahmoud Reza Ghandehari Ferdowsi: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia
Minoo Naebe: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: For practical applications, both environmental and economic aspects are highly required to consider in the development of recycling of fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs) encountering their end-of-life. Here, a sustainable, low cost, and efficient approach for the recycling of the glass fibre (GF) from GF reinforced epoxy polymer (GFRP) waste is introduced, based on a microwave-assisted chemical oxidation method. It was found that in a one-step process using microwave irradiation, a mixture of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) as a green oxidiser and tartaric acid (TA) as a natural organic acid could be used to decompose the epoxy matrix of a waste GFRP up to 90% yield. The recycled GFs with ~92.7% tensile strength, ~99.0% Young’s modulus, and ~96.2% strain-to-failure retentions were obtained when compared to virgin GFs (VGFs). This short microwave irradiation time using these green and sustainable recycling solvents makes this a significantly low energy consumption approach for the recycling of end-of-life GFRPs.

Keywords: glass fibre composites; recycling; circular economy; sustainability; microwave irradiation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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