Pyrolysis for Nylon 6 Monomer Recovery from Teabag Waste

In this work, we used pyrolysis to treat teabag waste (TBW). Changes in the pyrolysis temperature affected the composition and yield of the products. For example, more non-condensable gases and less char were produced with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature. Pyrolysis conducted under a nitrogen environment yielded caprolactam at temperatures between 400 and 700 °C. An increase in the pyrolysis temperature from 400 to 500 °C increased the caprolactam yield from 3.1 to 6.2 wt.%. At 700 °C, the yield decreased to 4.6 wt.%. The highest caprolactam yield (i.e., 6.2 wt.% at 500 °C) was equivalent to 59.2 wt.% on the basis of the weight of the non-biomass part of the TBW. The pyrolytic products other than caprolactam (e.g., combustible gases, pyrolytic liquid, and char) can function as fuels to supply energy during pyrolysis in order to increase and maintain the temperature. The higher heating values (HHVs) of the combustible gases and pyrolytic liquid produced at 500 °C were 7.7 and 8.3 MJ kg−1, respectively. The HHV of the char produced at 500 °C was 23 MJ kg−1, which is comparable to the HHV of coal. This work will help to develop effective pyrolysis processes to valorize everyday waste by recovering value-added chemicals such as polymer monomers and by producing alternative fuels.

Chemical evidence for the preservation of collagen in Eocene turtle shell using Py-GCxGC-TOFMS

<p>Studies on organic preservation in fossil tissues have been a contentious topic, as fossils have been thought to preserve little, if any, organic content after diagenesis. Several studies have previously reported the presence of collagen in fossils from deep time including in Cretaceous dinosaur bones (e.g.: Schweitzer et al., 2007, <em>Science</em> v. 316, 277-280). These findings have also been the subject of criticism with respect to the reproducibility of their results (e.g.: Buckley et al., 2017, <em>Proceedings of the Royal Society B</em> v. 284: 20170544). In the present study, we analysed a turtle shell from Eocene to ascertain a suitable proxy for the preservation of collagen, by using comprehensive pyrolysis gas chromatography – time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Py-GCxGC-TOFMS) and comparing the pyrolytic products obtained to those of modern turtle shell and collagen standard. </p><p>In order to add to the robustness of the study, industry standards of chitin, melanin and collagen were analysed using Py-GCxGC-TOFMS and their chromatograms compared for characteristic pyrolytic products that can be used to differentiate between them. Collagen could be differentiated from the other nitrogen-bearing biopolymers based on the presence of characteristic cyclic dipeptides known as 2,5-diketopiperazines (DKPs) which are formed by the recombination of peptides during pyrolysis. We compared the chromatogram of collagen standard to that of a modern turtle shell and found that the two chromatograms could be correlated based on the presence of diketodipyrrole, 2,5-DKP(Pro-Pro), 2,5-DKP(Pro-Ala), 2,5-DKP(Pro-Gly), 2,5-DKP(Pro-Hyp), 2,5-DKP(Pro-Arg) and 2,5-DKP(Pro-Lue/Ile). We then compared the chromatogram of modern turtle shell to the Eocene shell and confirmed the presence of diketodipyrrole and 2,5-DKP(Pro-Pro) in the fossil shell thus unambiguously indicating that collagen is preserved.</p>