Efficient method for recycling silica materials from waste powder of the photonic industry

An efficient and economic approach is proposed for the fast and direct recovery of silica materials from photonic waste powder. Unlike the conventional alkaline fusion method for the extraction of silica from waste materials, this method possesses advantages of a rapid and low-energy-consumed process with total recovery yield. The obtained mesoporous silica material, denoted as MCM-41(DU)-F, was recovered directly from photonic waste powder at room temperature with the assistance of cationic surfactant, hydrofluoric acid, and ammonia hydroxide. The recycled MCM-41(DU)-F with a high specific surface area (788 m(2)/g), ordered mesoporous structure (4.5 nm), and large pore volume (1.1 cm(3)/g) was used as support of tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) for the capture of CO2 from a flue gas stream. The results demonstrated that TEPA-impregnated MCM-41(DU)-F had an adsorption capacity of 120 mg of CO2/g of adsorbent. This is higher than the amount adsorbed by TEPA-MCM-41(NaSi) made from pure chemicals (113 mg of CO2/g of adsorbent) and TEPA-MCM-41(AF) made from alkaline fusion (112 mg of CO2/g of adsorbent) under the same testing conditions. This novel recycling process, which can improve cost effectiveness for the mass production of valuable mesoporous silica materials from cheap and abundant resources through convenient preparation steps, is surely beneficial from the viewpoint of economical use of photonic industrial waste powder.