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•Fluidized bed for waste-derived fuels production.•Bed column could reach perfect particle mixing and fast heating.•Model predictions estimated the mixing index with an error of less ...than 15%.•Pyrolysis saves 0.745 MWh energy per each ton of recovered carton package.
The fluidized bed reactor is an alternative for aluminum recovery and waste valorization of polyolefins from the polyethylene/aluminum composite (LDPE/Al). The sand is typically added as an inert particle into the fluidized bed to enhance heat and mass transfer. Such addition, however, can lead to particle segregation and compromise the reactor start-up. As a research novelty, this paper uses a 33-factorial experimental design with three central points to assess particle concentration uniformity in a fluidized bed composed of LDPE/Al and sand mixtures. A statistical procedure permits an evaluation of the factors effect of the LDPE/Al mass fraction (XC% w/w), the air velocity ratio (V/Vmf), and the diameter ratio of LDPE/Al and sand (dC/dS) on the bed mixing index (IM). Results show that only the dC/dS and V/Vmf ratio affects the IM. Data analysis reveals that fluidized beds reach axial particle uniformity with 0.67 dC/dS, 10 % V/Vmf, and 15% wt. LDPE/Al composite. The statistical model developed accurately predicts the IM, with an error of less than 15%. Such results allow applying a fluidized bed for waste-derived fuels, aluminum recovery from carton packaging wastes, and energy saving of 0.745 MWh per each ton of recovered carton package annually.
This study investigated the gasification of wood, weed, plastic, tire, carton and their mixtures using zeolite (A4 type) as a catalyst, with the purpose of investigating the potential interactions of ...the various feedstocks during gasification. The co-gasification of the mixed feedstock led to the occurrences of the cross-interactions, which substantially impacted the distribution of the products in gasification. During the co-gasification, the pyrolysis/gasification of the different feedstocks produced the reaction intermediates with varied structures that interacted with each other and with the char formed from the different feedstock. The interaction could promote the gasification of the tarry compounds into gaseous products, which could also promote the gasification of the char to lower the char yields. Further to this, the cross-polymerisation or cracking of the varied reaction intermediates also took place during the co-gasification, leading to the formation of more coke deposits on catalyst. The co-gasification of the mixed feedstocks significantly impacted the reaction network, impacting the formation of gases, tar, char and the coke on catalysts, originating from the cross-interaction among the reaction intermediates derived from the pyrolysis/gasification of the various feedstocks.
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•Co-gasification of wood, weed, plastic, tire, carton box was conducted.•The interactions among the feedstocks impacted the distribution of products.•The interactions promote gas formation while suppress tar and char formation.•The cross-interaction led to the formation of additional coke. The cross-interaction also affected properties of gases, tar, char and the coke.•The cross-interaction also affected properties of gases, tar, char and the coke.
Among ancestral fungi in Chaetothyriales, several groups have a life style in association with tropical ants, either in domatia or in carton-nests. In the present study, two strains collected from ...ant carton in Thailand and Malaysia were found to represent hitherto undescribed species. Morphological, physiological, phylogenetic data and basic genome information are provided for their classification. Because of the relatively large phylogenetic distances with known species confirmed by overall genome data, large subunit (LSU) and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA sequences were sufficient for taxonomic circumscription of the species. The analyzed strains clustered with high statistical support as a clade in the family Trichomeriaceae. Morphologically they were rather similar, lacking sporulation in vitro. In conclusion, Incumbomyces delicatus and Incumbomyces lentus were described as new species based on morphological, physiological and phylogenetic analysis.
Cartons are commonly used in the packaging industry, and standard carton patterns are broadly used in mass production. However, their designs may not fit different containees or specific fabrication ...requirements well. Taking the dimensions of the containees as input, we study the patterns of cartons and propose a system named “Cartonist” to efficiently explore the pattern variations. A synthesis algorithm is proposed to create a space of nonstandard carton patterns, based on which a design space exploration method is demonstrated. Cartonist enables a user to customize the design of carton patterns for different applications, considering design criteria such as material efficiency, folding ease and stability. We perform a user study to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed system for carton design.
•A system which helps design of nonstandard carton patterns.•A procedural model for automatically synthesizing carton patterns.•A method for exploring carton patterns with high-level requirements.
Abstract
The traditional cigarette conveying system of cigarette industry adopts a one-to-one hard connection method, which has problems such as poor spatial scalability and high equipment coupling. ...A spatial layout method for carton conveying system based on the SOSG (Solid Orthogonal Structure Graph) matrix is proposed. Through this method, a matrix cigarette conveying system is constructed. Compared with the traditional mode, its space utilization rate is increased by 67%, equipment coupling is reduced, and the downtime rate of carton conveying line due to the shutdown of sealing machine can be reduced from 100% to 0%.
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•Thermo-kinetic study was conducted using five model-free models.•Furans and acetic acid was detected during TPC decompostion.•TG data could be predicted well using ANN19 ...model.•Residue after TPC decomposition was analyzed using XRD and SEM-EDS.
Packaging waste such as beverage carton forms a significant part of municipal solid waste and its pyrolysis behavior, kinetics, and thermodynamics were studied. A four-stage decomposition process was revealed: dehydration below 200 ℃, paperboard degradation at 200–400 ℃, polyethylene devolatilization at 400–550 ℃, and inorganic decomposition at 550–900 ℃. The evolved products included furans and acetic acid during stage II, followed by the presence of 2-butene and 1-pentene in the subsequent stage. Apparent activation energy (Ea) were determined using model-free models, revealing a notable level of comparability among these results. The average Ea was 123.6 kJ/mol within α range of 0.10–0.60, increasing to 233.3 kJ/mol beyond that range. The most probable reaction mechanism was determined, with the one-dimensional model proving more reliable. An artificial neural network model was developed to predict the thermal degradation. The selected topology of 5*15*1 displayed a robust ability to predict the thermal data.
Due to the great concern about plastic marine pollution, the demand for glass packaging has significantly increased since many people consider it more sustainable than plastic or multilayer ...packaging. However, evaluating the environmental impacts that occur in all life cycle phases (production, distribution, use and end of life), glass is often the worst packaging alternative. In particular, this study applied the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to compare the environmental performance of the traditional single-use glass bottle for wine with four packaging alternatives (aseptic carton, bag-in-box, refillable glass bottle and multilayer PET bottle) for the Italian market. Primary data about wine packaging systems (weight, size and composition of all components of primary, secondary and tertiary packaging), mode of transport and distribution and disposal scenarios of each packaging system component were provided by the packaging companies, Italian wineries and Italian Packaging Consortia as well as obtained from published literature and technical documents. Life cycle impacts of the wine packaging systems considered were assessed with the ReCiPe 2016 H evaluation method, adopting both midpoint and endpoint approaches. The results obtained highlighted that the most environmentally sound alternative is the bag-in-box, which is slightly better than the aseptic carton. The greater sustainability of bag-in-box and aseptic cartons was essentially due to the composition of the containers, lower packaging weight relative incidence and greater palletizing efficiency. The analysis of alternative scenarios, obtained by the variation of the three sensitive parameters identified (weight of containers, wine distribution distance and packaging disposal scenario), showed that upon decreasing the distribution distance, the environmental performances of refillable glass bottles became comparable to those of aseptic cartons and bag-in-box. These results pointed out that glass bottle reuse in Italy is a convenient alternative only when considering the local market (i.e. for drinks distribution at distances less than 100 km).
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•Production and use of secondary and tertiary packaging are considered.•Bag-in-box is the most environmentally sound alternative.•Aseptic cartons have only slightly worse environmental performances.•Single use glass bottles are the worst packaging alternative.•Glass bottle reuse in Italy is a convenient alternative only for local market.
Orang drink is the most common flavoured drink consumed in Iraq and it can be found in markets of all sizes and in all provinces making them subjected to a wide range of storage temperature and ...storage time. In this work, the effect of storage time and temperature was studied on three different local brands of Orange drink with Low-to-No nectar content; all were packed in Laminated Aseptic Cartons (LAC). Samples were stored in a fixed and controlled temperature environment ranging between 10 ?C-50 ?C for a period of 5 weeks and the samples were tested for the values of Brix, Titratable Acidity (TA), and pH at the beginning and at the end of each week. The results showed that no significant difference (p > 0.05) was found, which showed that there is low-to-no evidence that the selected range of storage temperature and time in this study significantly affected the values of Brix, TA, and pH.
Despite being composed of recyclable materials, the main technological challenge of multilayer carton packs involves the efficient decompatibilization of the cellulosic, polymeric, and metallic ...phases. Here, a simple two-step mechanochemical process is described that uses only aqueous media and mechanical force to promote phase separation in order to fully recycle multi-layer carton packaging. The first step produces value-added micro- and nanocellulose, while in the second step, aluminum is extracted, forming precipitated aluminum and aluminum oxyhydroxides. Solid polyethylene (PE) remains with a degree of purity defined by the process efficiency. The results show that cellulose is efficiently extracted and converted into micro- and nanocellulose after 15 min of milling. In the second stage, approximately 90% of the aluminum is extracted from the PE after 15 min of milling. Due to the separation and drying medium conditions, the finely divided particles of extracted aluminum also have oxyhydroxides in their composition. It is believed that a passivation layer forms on the metallic aluminum particle. The techno-economic analysis revealed a positive net present value (NPV) of $17.5 million, with a minimum selling price of 1.62 USD/kg of cellulose. The environmental analysis concluded that most of the environmental impact of the process is associated with the entry of carton packages into the system, incorporating a small environmental load related to the industrial process. The results indicate a promising option toward a circular economy and carbon neutrality.
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•Mechanochemical route to the full recycling of multilayer carton packages.•Cellulose extraction and conversion into micro and nanocellulose.•Aluminum extracted from the polyethylene also present oxyhydroxide in the composition.•Polyethylene purity defined by the process efficiency.•Positive Net Present Value (NPV) of $17.5 million with minimal environmental impact.
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