The disposal of non-biodegradable plastic waste without further upgrading/downgrading is not environmentally acceptable and many methods to overcome the problem have been proposed. Herein we indicate a simple method to make high-value nanomaterials from plastic waste as a partial solution to the environmental problem. Laboratory-based waste centrifuge tubes made of polypropylene were chosen as a carbon source to show the process principle. In the process, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized from plastic waste in a two-stage stainless steel 316 (SS 316) metal tube that acted as both reactor vessel and catalyst. The steel reactor contains Fe (and Ni, and various alloys), which act as the catalyst for the carbon conversion process. The reaction and products were studied using electron probe microanalysis, thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Optimization studies to determine the effect of different parameters on the process showed that the highest yield and most graphitized MWCNTs were formed at 900 °C under the reaction conditions used (yield 42%; Raman ID/IG ratio = 0.48). The high quality and high yield of the MWCNTs that were produced in a flow reactor from plastic waste using a two stage SS 316 chemical vapor deposition (CVD) furnace did not require the use of an added catalyst.
Keywords: dusting catalyst; multi-walled carbon nanotubes; plastic waste; two-stage self-catalytic CVD reactor; upgrading of plastic waste.