Browsing by Author "Espinal, Michael"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Biomineralization of Plastic Waste to Improve the Strength of Plastic-Reinforced Cement Mortar
(2021-04) Kane, Seth; Thane, Abby; Espinal, Michael; Lunday, Kendra; Armagan, Hakan; Phillips, Adrienne J.; Heveran, Chelsea M.; Ryan, Cecily A.
The development of methods to reuse large volumes of plastic waste is essential to curb the environmental impact of plastic pollution. Plastic-reinforced cementitious materials (PRCs), such as plastic-reinforced mortar (PRM), may be potential avenues to productively use large quantities of low-value plastic waste. However, poor bonding between the plastic and cement matrix reduces the strength of PRCs, limiting its viable applications. In this study, calcium carbonate biomineralization techniques were applied to coat plastic waste and improved the compressive strength of PRM. Two biomineralization treatments were examined: enzymatically induced calcium carbonate precipitation (EICP) and microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP). MICP treatment of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resulted in PRMs with compressive strengths similar to that of plastic-free mortar and higher than the compressive strengths of PRMs with untreated or EICP-treated PET. Based on the results of this study, MICP was used to treat hard-to-recycle types 3–7 plastic waste. No plastics investigated in this study inhibited the MICP process. PRM samples with 5% MICP-treated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and mixed type 3–7 plastic had compressive strengths similar to plastic-free mortar. These results indicate that MICP treatment can improve PRM strength and that MICP-treated PRM shows promise as a method to reuse plastic waste.
Evaluation of the bonding properties between low-value plastic fibers treated with microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation and cement mortar
(Elsevier BV, 2022-11) Espinal, Michael; Kane, Seth; Ryan, Cecily; Phillips, Adrienne J.; Heveran, Chelsea
Plastic fiber reinforced cementitious materials offer the potential to increase the reusability of plastic waste and create lower-CO2 cementitious composites. However, the bonding properties of many plastic types with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) are largely unknown. This work employs single fiber pullout (SFPO) tests to quantify the interfacial bonding properties of polyvinyl chloride, low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene embedded in OPC mortar. The interfacial bonding properties were compared for fibers either treated with microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) or left untreated. SFPO tests revealed that plastic type had a large influence over bonding properties. Specifically, the fiber surface energy, as estimated from water contact angle measurements, was found to be the driving factor of bond strength. ABS had the highest surface energy and demonstrated the strongest bonding out of all plastic types studied. However, MICP treatment of fibers did not increase the interfacial bond strength for any of the plastics studied. The thick and inconsistent coverage of biomineral over the fiber surface from MICP is likely attributed to preventing an increase in bond strength. These results contribute to the design and application of plastic-reinforced mortars by comparing bonding properties for a range of typically low-value, unrecycled plastic types.