Adhesives, polymer industry pollution

One of the major uses of activated carbon is in the recovery of solvents from industrial process effluents. Dry cleaning, paints, adhesives, polymer manufacturing, and printing are some examples. Since, as a result of the highly volatile character of many solvents, they cannot be emitted directly into the atmosphere. Typical solvents recovered by active carbon are acetone, benzene, ethanol, ethyl ether, pentane, methylene chloride, tetrahydrofuran, toluene, xylene, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and other aromatic compounds [78], Besides, automotive emissions make a large contribution to urban and global air pollution. Some VOCs and other air contaminants are emitted by automobiles through the exhaust system and also by the fuel system, and activated carbons are used to control these emissions [77,78],... 

The ever increasing emphasis on reducing air pollution and on health considerations emphasized by OSHA has provided a strong impetus for adhesive manufacturers to develop water-based emulsion polymer systems to replace the organic solvent-based systems on which the industry was founded. This has been a difficult process. 

One of the largest gas phase applications for activated carbon is in the recovery of solvents from industrial process effluents. Examples of industries that produce solvent-contaminated air streams are dry cleaning, the manufacture of paints, adhesives and polymers, and printing. In many cases, the solvent concentration is high (of the order of 1-2%). The highly volatile nature of many solvents can create unacceptable problems if they are vented to the atmosphere they can create health, fire, and explosion hazards as well as pollute the environment. The solvents must therefore be removed before the air streams are vented to the atmosphere. There are economic benefits if the recovered solvent can be reused. 

With an increase in worldwide environmental pollution caused by non-biodegradable polymers, research on the development of biodegradable biorenewable polymers is both necessary and valuable to support global sustainability and to help reduce industry dependence on petroleum and address environmental issue with petrochemicals [1]. Commercially available soy products, such as soy oil, soy protein isolate, soy flour, and soy protein concentrate have attracted much attention because of their abimdance, low cost and good biodegradability [2], Recently, these soy products have been considered environmentally friendly materials for adhesives [3], health care [4,5], plastics [6,7], and various binders [8],... 

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