PRODUCTION OF COMPOSITE FLOOR TILES USING PLASTIC WASTE AND WOOD DUST

^*1Amoren, Lilian Ekiuwa,¹Iguisi, Akugbe Egbuwa &²Agbale, Nneka Rosemary

ABSTRACT

The role of plastics in human lives cannot be over emphasized. It is used as household appliances, packaging materials, potable water and beverage containers, kitchen utensils, furniture, toys, automobile parts, polythene bags etc (Abota, 2012). The great attention given to the use of plastics is attributed to their generally light, cheap and durability nature and this account for their preference over other materials (Hopewell et al, 2009). The negative effects associated with the increase in uses of plastics include blockage of drains, ground impermeability to water, hazard to animal health due to accidental ingestion of plastic waste etc. The expanding population and increased preference for packaged commodities are worsening the negative environmental impacts of these plastics (Kalilu, 2013). The need therefore arises to find safe methods of converting plastic waste into other useful and harmless products. Wood dust, a by-product of wood which also presents a number of health and safety hazards can be used in conjunction with plastic waste to make a number of useful products. The method adopted in this work involved collecting plastic waste materials from trenches and drainages around Benin metropolis in Edo state, Nigeria. The plastics were sorted, washed, dried and shredded into smaller particles and thereafter kept in plastic bags for further use. Wood dust was also collected from a sawmill in Benin city, ovendried and sieved into fine powder. The composite tiles were produced by first melting the shredded plastics in a pressure pot placed on a heat source. The wood dust was then added to the plastic melt with continuous stirring until a homogenous mix was attained. The mixture was poured into a fabricated metal mould (dimension: 12cm x 10cm x 4cm), covered and allowed to solidify and cure for 5 days after which the product was removed from the mould and subjected to various mechanical and chemical test to determine and Compare its properties with that of conventional ceramic tiles.From the Mechanical tests results, the composite tiles failed under load of 39 kN while the conventional tiles, 36 kN. Cold and hot water has no effect on both the composite and conventional tiles respectively. For flammability test, scorched surface and deformation in shape was observed for the composite tiles while the conventional tiles splitted under the influence of flame. From the chemical test results, it was observed that both the composite and conventional ceramic tiles were not affected by petrol, kerosene, diesel, toluene, engine oil, acetone, KOH solution and dilute HCl.

Keywords: Plastic Waste; Wood Dust; Composite; Tiles; Recycling.