Thermo-mechanical processing of used disposable surgical masks and potentials of produced recycled materials Alen Erjavec , Mihael Brunčko, Julija Volmajer Valh University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Maribor, Slovenia alen.erjavec@um.si, mihael.bruncko@um.si, julija.volmajer@um.si Surgical face masks were introduced more than a century ago. They were originally developed for professional use during surgery. With the frequent outbreak of epidemics, surgical masks were also used by the general population. The outbreak of COVID-19 disease was the largest pandemic of the modern era, which created many challenges in the field of personal protective equipment (PPE). The amount of consumed PPE increased dramatically, particularly for disposable surgical masks (DSM), which were used extensively by the general population. DSM was by far the most commonly used face mask type [1] and the most sought-after product not only in Slovenia, but also in the whole world during the pandemic period [2-4]. This means that an enormous amount of waste was generated. Much of it was disposed of improperly, meaning it ended up in the environment where it pose a potentially hazardous risk to the environment [5] . For this reason, it is crucial to analyse the waste in detail and identify possible options for the disposal of this type of waste. In our work, the potential of recycling of used DSMs through thermo-mechanical processing was investigated. The DSMs were first disassembled and their composition analysed. The metal wires were removed manually, and then the remaining parts of the DSMs were pretreated by simple processes such as cutting and grinding. The obtained ground material was thermally processed using a twin-screw extruder. Three different secondary materials were produced - recycled material from ear loops, recycled material from the three-layer philtre part, and recycled material from the entire mask (excluding iron nose wires). Precise analyses of mechanical properties, thermal gravimetric analyses, differential scanning calorimetry and regular Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) scanning with additional microscope FTIR scanning of obtained secondary materials – thermo-mechanical processed materials had been carried out. With obtained results, the potential of the use of that kind of materials can be estimated. References 1. Remic, K.; Erjavec, A.; Volmajer Valh, J.; Šterman, S. Public Handling of Protective Masks from Use to Disposal and Recycling Options to New Products. J. Mech. Eng. 2022, 68, 281–289. https://doi.org/10.5545/sv-jme.2022.38 2. 2World Health Organization. WHO Director-General's Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on COVID-19, March 2020; World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2020. 3. Park, C.-Y.; Kim, K.; Roth, S.; Beck, S.; Kang, J.W.; Tayag, M.C.; Grifin, M. Global Shortage of Personal Protective Equipment amid COVID-19: Supply Chains, Bottlenecks, and Policy Implications; Asian Development Bank: Mandaluyong, Philippines, 2020. https://doi.org/10.22617/BRF200128-2 4. Czigany, T.; Ronkay, F. The coronavirus and plastics. Express Polym. Lett. 2020, 14, 510–511. https://doi.org/10.3144/ expresspolymlett.2020.41 5. Erjavec, A.; Plohl, O.; Zemljič, L. F.; Valh, J. V. Significant fragmentation of Disposable Surgical Mask - Enormous Source for Problematic Micro/Nanoplastics Pollution in the Environment; Sustainability 2022, vol. 14(19), 12625-12642. https://doi. org/10.3390/su141912625
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