Fabrication and Characterization of Transparent and Uniform Cellulose/Polyethylene Composite Films from Used Disposable Paper Cups by the “One-Pot Method”

Abstract

Disposable paper cups are usually composed of high-grade paper board and an inner polyethylene coatings and are extensively used in daily life. However, most disposable paper cups are only used for a short time and then incinerated or accumulated in landfill at the end of their service due to the difficulty in separating the components, leading to a serious threat to our ecosystem. Therefore, developing a facile and green method to recycle and reuse disposable paper cups is vital. By using ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) as a solvent, transparent and homogenous cellulose/polyethylene composite films were successfully prepared from used bamboo-based disposable paper cups through the “one-pot method”, without any pre-treatment. It was found that there was a transformation of cellulose I to II after the dissolution and regeneration processes, and the crystallinity degree of the regenerated cellulose-based materials decreased significantly, resulting in a change in thermal properties. Meanwhile, compared to traditional pure cellulose films, the composite films possessed good UV-shielding properties and hydrophobicity. Moreover, they also displayed good mechanical properties. Additionally, the size of the ground PE coatings displayed obvious effects on the structures and properties of the composite films, where the CPE100 (sieved with 100–200 mesh) possessed the most homogeneous texture and the highest tensile strength (82 Mpa), higher than that of commercial polyethylene film (9–12 MPa), showing superiority as packaging or wrapping materials. Consequently, the goals to fabricate uniform cellulose/polyethylene composite films and valorize the solid waste from disposable paper cups were simultaneously achieved by a facile and green “one-pot method”.

Cellulose/Poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) Light-Management Films with High Antiultraviolet and Tunable Haze Performances

“…Meanwhile, the absorption peak at around 899 cm –1 is weak for the CPs, while it enhanced intensely for the regenerated films. All the above phenomena indicate the changes of hydrogen bonds and the transition of cellulose from I to II phase after regeneration, which is in correspondence with our former results. − Additionally, PMIA short fibers demonstrate peaks at approximately 1654, 1608, and 1538 cm –1 , assigned to the vibration of the CO (amide) stretching, aromatic ring stretching, and −NH– bending, which are characteristic peaks for the PMIA structure. , Taking the −NH– bending vibration (1538 cm –1 ) and aromatic ring stretching vibration (1608 cm –1 ) as references, it can be concluded that these two peaks are enhanced obviously with more content of PMIA, indicating the successful and homogeneous incorporation of PMIA into the cellulose matrix, which is important to the property of the cellulose/PMIA composite films.…”

Cellulose/Grape-Seed-Extract Composite Films with High Transparency and Ultraviolet Shielding Performance Fabricated from Old Cotton Textiles

“…X-ray diffractometer D8 AD-VANCE purchased from the Bruker, Ettlingen, Germany in reflection mode with CuKa (λ = 1.5406 Å) radiation was employed to record the X-ray diffractograms (XRD) of raw materials (P-OCTs and GSEs) and the regenerated cellulose/GSEs films (CGSEs 0, CGSEs 0.25, CGSEs 0.5, CGSEs 1.0 and CGSEs 2.0), in which 40 kV, 40 mA, 20 °/min and 2θ span ranging from 5° to 60° were preset for all samples [ 45 , 48 ].…”

“…OCA 50 machine purchased from Dataphysics, Filderstadt, Germany was employed to record the surface hydrophilicity of CGSEs 0, CGSEs 0.25, CGSEs 0.5, CGSEs 1.0 and CGSEs 2.0. More than five positions were recorded and the averaged contact-angle values were displayed in this work [ 45 , 48 ].…”

“…It was found that waste newspapers can be transformed into regenerated cellulose films and aerogels to be used as packaging and adsorption materials [ 34 , 46 , 47 ]. Meanwhile, waste paper cups have been successfully converted into cellulose-based film with or without peeling off the polyethylene (PE) coating and paper–plastic composites with certain hydrophobicity were fabricated successfully [ 48 ]. Moreover, cellulose-based films with some anti-ultraviolet capacity can be also obtained by adopting corrugated paper as a source [ 45 ].…”

Sugar Cane Products as a Sustainable Construction Material – Case Study: Thermophysical Properties of a Corncob and Cane Bagasse Ash Panel

“…In contrast, heat transfer in the building is related to how fast or slow the interior temperatures reach the exterior temperature. Researchers are interested in developing composite materials with natural fibers, which generate thermal lag when combined with thermal inertia [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”