Learning outcomes expected at the level of the course (4 to 10 learning outcomes) |
After passing the exam, the student is expected to be able to:
- explain and argue the importance of plastics for sustainable development
- categorize the sources of plastic waste
- explain the importance of sorting plastic waste
- propose and implement a procedure for sorting plastic waste
- explain the basic characteristics of the mechanical, chemical and energy recovery of plastics
- choose the optimal method of waste recovery given its composition |
Course content broken down in detail by weekly class schedule (syllabus) |
1st week: Introduction. The nomenclature of the polymer. The classification of polymers. Polymerization (step-growth, chain). Methods of polymerization.
2nd week: The structure of the polymer: bonds, configurations and conformations of polymers. The physical state of the polymer-thermomechanical curves. Mechanisms of polymer degradation.
3rd week: Polymers and sustainable development. Life cycle stages of plastic. Additives for polymers. Ecological aspects of polymer additives (examples: heat stabilizers and plasticizers for poly(vinyl chloride)).
4th week: Polymer processing procedures (extrusion, injection molding). Environmental burden at the stage of processing of polymers.
5th week: World, European and Croatian plastics industry - statistical data. Types of plastic waste.
6th week: Plastics waste in household, automotive, construction, electric, electronic, agriculture and distribution. Recycling of plastic waste and sustainable development.
7th week: Material recovery (recycling). Homogeneous and heterogeneous plastic waste. The collection and identification of plastic waste.
8th week: Sorting of plastic waste: float-sink method, supercritical fluids method, air classification, hydrocyclon classification, optical sorting method, infrared spectroscopy method.
9th week: Sorting of plastic waste: X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method, electrostatic classification method, sorting by melting temperature, sorting by selective dissolution.
10th week: Reduction of plastic waste: granulators, mills, shredders, apparatus for agglomeration and compacting, mills (turbo mill, disks), cryogenic milling, shear extrusion in the solid state, chemical fragmentation.
11th week: Plants for recycling homogeneous and heterogeneous plastic waste.
12th week: Chemical recycling of plastic waste (examples, plants): depolymerization processes (hydrolysis, alcoholysis, glycolysis, acidolysis, aminolysis), thermolysis processes (gasification, pyrolysis, hydrogenation)
13th week: Energy recovery of plastic waste: burning on the mechanical stoker incinerator, incineration in rotary kilns, fluidized-bed combustion.
14th week: Waste disposal and landfill. Behavior of plastic waste in landfills. The management of plastic waste.
15th week: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA method). Conclusions.
Exercises: Manual sorting of packaging plastic waste, Sorting of plastic waste by float-sink method, Sorting of plastic waste using infrared spectroscopy, Separation of poly (vinyl chloride) and poly (ethylene terephthalate), Effect of repeated recycling of the thermal properties of polymers, Chemical recycling of poly (ethylene terephthalate) by glycolysis, Recycling of expanded polystyrene. |
