2024 Chemical Engineering Capstone Design Project Winning Team: Pads to Purpose
2024 Chemical Engineering Capstone Design Project Winning Team- Pads to Purpose: Recycling and Repurposing of used menstrual pads. Existing disposal methods of menstrual pads exacerbate plastic waste accumulation in landfills and water systems.
This project aims to design a sustainable pilot-scale method to recover and repurpose the plastics in menstrual pads. The team experimentally tested a solvent extraction process to recover polyethylene and polypropylene.
The scaled-up industrial process was simulated in ASPEN and included integrated solvent recovery. The simulation aided in determining economic, environmental, and safety impacts. Repurposing options explored were catalytic depolymerization for fuel and injection molding for plastic parts.
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