Vacuum-Gasification-Condensation of Waste Toner To Produce Industrial Chemicals and Nanomaterials

With the development of information industries, abundant waste toner was produced along with the generation of waste toner cartridges in office works. Waste toner is considered a hazardous material due to the small size (2–7 μm) and components of polystyrene, polyacrylate, Fe 3 O 4, and SiO 2 . Cancers of blood circulation and digestive systems will be induced if toner is inhaled. According to our knowledge, little information was published about the disposal technology of waste toner. This paper proposes an environmentally-friendly technology to dispose waste toner. Vacuum-gasification-condensation was employed to treat waste toner. Industrial chemicals, n -butene gas, and liquid oils of styrene, polystyrene, and acrylic ester were obtained from the pyrolysis of polystyrene and polyacrylate. The organics of waste toner began to be decomposed and gasified when the temperature reached 450 °C. Above 570 °C, most of the polystyrene and polyacrylate were converted to gases and then condensed into oil in the temperatures of 180 and 80 °C. SiO 2 and Fe 3 O 4 of waste toner were transformed into nano-Fe 3 O 4 and nano-SiO 2 and gathered. The size of the nanoparticles was about 200 nm. This paper provides a recovery technology of waste toner that is environmentally-friendly and high value-added.