A great deal of research has been made into producing graphene or graphene oxide by utilizing graphite as a starting material. An alternate method of producing graphene is using low-grade coal as a starting material. Due to the abundance of coal in Pakistan and increased environmental concern from Government bodies and environmental agencies alike, increased awareness is being made to move over to non-burning solutions to fossil fuels. Experiments were performed on two ranks of coal in parallel; lignite and sub-bituminous. Coal was pretreated first to remove the undesired impurities, which could hinder the graphene synthesis later on. Acid washing with multiple waters was done, followed by carbonization in the furnace. After the pretreatment, the Hummers method was chosen as a chemical process for synthesizing graphene. It is a less complex method, can be easily performed with available resources, and is comparatively cheaper and environmentally friendly. The resulting sample was tested with SEM and EDS, and graphene oxide was confirmed. It was followed by a water-based reduction method to produce reduced graphene oxide from graphene oxide. This modified hydrothermal method was chosen for its eco-friendliness. The final sample was dried and tested with XRD, SEM, FTIR, and RAMAN to authenticate the type of graphene produced. Graphene has remarkable properties, including very high tensile modulus, extremely high thermal conductivity, and charge carrier mobility exceeding 200,000 cm2V-1s-1. Such properties are reason enough to explore low cost, environment friendly, and scalable means of graphene production. Potential graphene applications in various medical, chemical and industrial processes are enhanced or enabled by using new graphene materials.
Great attention has been paid to membrane-based separation technology in various separation fields, including gas separation. It provides the benefits of energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, easy scale-up, and convenience in operation. Different division advancements are being utilized for the expulsion of acid gas carbon dioxide (CO2). The aim of this work is to synthesis the membrane using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with treatment (WT) and without treatment (WOT) of the additive that is triethanolamine (TEA), to study the effect of additive on the permeance of membrane towards CO2 and the morphology changes of each membrane. In this research, virgin PVA and PVA with TEA were cast upon the porous support membrane of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVA was used as the polymer matrix, and TEA was used as a CO2 facilitating agent. Distilled water was used as a solvent for TEA and PVA in preparing the solution. Dimethyl acetamide (DMAc) and Tetrahydrofuran (THF) were used as solvents for PVC porous membranes. These membranes were tested on CO2 to find out the permeability and flux rates (J). For the morphology of the membrane, we performed SEM; for thermal analysis, we performed DSC and TGA, and for the strength, we performed the tensile test. The results reveal that the presence of TEA changes the morphology and thermal behavior increases the strength and the permeability of CO2. In a nutshell, the presence of TEA enhanced the performance and the morphology of the membrane.
This research explores the effect of ground tire rubber (GTR) on the mechanical properties of LDPE. This thermoplastic-elastomer blend sets the composition of ground tire rubber and low-density polyethylene (LDPE/GTR). The blend was prepared in different proportions and was processed in a compression molding machine. The optimum operating conditions of the blend set to be 220℃ temperature and pressure varied from 150-200 bars. Different parts per hundred rubber (phr) samples were obtained under these conditions, including 1 phr, 2 phr, 3 phr, 4 phr, and 5 phr. After that, the mechanical properties of the blend were examined concerning various compositions. Different testing methods were used to determine the mechanical properties of the thermoplastic-elastomer blend, which include tensile strength, flexural strength, and Izod impact. The results obtained from these tests show that tensile strength and modulus decreases by increasing the rubber content. However, impact strength and percentage elongation increase by increasing the rubber content. This enhancement in impact and percentage elongation may be suitable for the applications in gymnasium mat and automobile industry.
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