Team:RHIT/Sustainability

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Revision as of 20:20, 6 August 2014

PLA Recycling


Protocols

  • To a 1 L Erlenmeyer flask add:

    • 5.0 g shredded PLA
    • 5.6 g NaOH pellets
    • 50 mL DI water
    • Stir bar

    Stir reaction, heating to 50-60°C, overnight or until all plastic has visibly dissolved.


    Neutralize with HCl to a pH of 5-6.

    Vacuum filter solution 2-3 times, dispose of any solid collected.

    Using a sterile syringe, filter solution into a jar to store until needed.

  • The filtered solution was measured in a polarimer. The optical rotation results are as follows.

    pH Optical Rotation
    2.5 .12
    3.5 -.13
    4.21 -.26

    This suggests that the solution did in fact contain lactate because a pH change made a significant difference in the optical rotation of the solution.