Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with two type viscosity that commonly used as vitreous humour substitutes in vitreoretinal surgery has been successfully synthesized by ring-opening polymerization. Optimization of synthesized parameters such as ratio of monomer and chain terminator, the amount of initiator, mixing temperature and reaction time was carried out to obtain PDMS materials having similar properties with commercial product. PDMS with viscosity of 1.17 Pas that very close to viscosity of commercial PDMS of 1.08 Pas, was successfully synthesized with a ratio of 26:10 monomer and terminator chain, 0.58 M of initiator KOH, 170 oC of mixing temperature and 35 minutes of reaction time. By changing reaction time to 40 minutes, PDMS was successfully synthesized with viscosity of 3.42 that similar to that of commercial one.
Oil spills in the marine environment are a rising concern due to their adverse impacts on living creatures and the environment. Hence, remediation methods have been used to remove the oil from the contaminated water. A sorbent material is considered the best method for oil spill absorption. However, commonly used commercial sorbents are made from nonrenewable and nonenvironmentally friendly materials. In this research, natural rubber foam (NRF) was used as a sorbent material with the addition of a filler, i.e., silica and a silica–lignin hybrid, to increase its oil sorption capacity and reusability. The silica and silica–lignin hybrid were extracted from rice husk waste by means of the precipitation method. The silica–lignin hybrid-filled NRF exhibited excellent hydrophobicity, with a water contact angle of 133°, and had more stable reusability compared to unfilled NRF and silica-filled NRF. In addition, the optimum oil absorption capacity of silica–lignin hybrid-filled NRF was 1.36 g g−1. Overall, the results showed that silica–lignin hybrid-filled NRF has the potential to be developed as a green oil absorbent material and is promising in terms of economic and environmental aspects.
Study towards the recycling of PET waste has arisen in the last decades. One of the most widely used methods was the mechanical recycling process due to its simplicity and low cost of production. In this research, PET waste obtained from the disposable water gallon containers was used to produce recycled PET fibers for textile applications. The PET fibers were prepared using the extrusion technique by varying the processing temperatures, i.e., 200, 210, 220, 230, and 240°C. The diameter, FTIR analysis, XRD analysis, and mechanical properties of the PET fibers at various processing temperatures were studied. The results showed that the optimum processing temperature for preparing recycled PET fibers was 210°C with a diameter of 0.23 mm, a degree of crystallinity of 8.9%, a tensile strength of 70.4 MPa, and an elongation at break of 83.6%. In conclusion, PET waste shows a promising application to be processed as recycled PET fibers for textile applications.
Bioplastic has been widely studied in the past decades as a replacement for non-biodegradable and non-environmentally friendly plastic. One of the promising materials to produce bioplastic is cellulose. However, it is rarely used as the main component for bioplastic production. This study reports a facile process to prepare bioplastic using the pure cellulose content of Cladophora sp. algae via the hydrogel method. The effect of epichlorohydrin (ECH) concentrations as the cross-linking agent was investigated toward the biodegradability, thermal, and mechanical properties of the cellulose bioplastic obtained. The results showed that ECH concentrations affected the properties of the cellulose bioplastic produced due to the number of cross-links formed during the process. The cellulose bioplastic possessed relatively high thermal and mechanical properties. The cellulose bioplastic performed excellent biodegradability, as it was degraded by more than 40% within five days. Thus, the cellulose of Cladophora sp. algae has the potential to be developed as the main component for bioplastic application.
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