Transforming waste expanded polystyrene foam into hyper-crosslinked polymers for carbon dioxide capture and separation

A novel facile and one-pot approach was developed for the preparation of hyper-crosslinked polymers (HCPs) via the Friedel-Crafts reaction between the waste expanded polystyrene foam (WEPS) and 1,2-dichloroethane in this study. 1,2-dichloroethane as a cost-effective chemical agent was used as both the solvent and the cross-linker for HCPs. The obtained HCPs showed large specific surface areas and good thermal stability. The highest CO2 adsorption capacity (1.987 mmol/g) and the adsorption selectivity ratio (CO2 over N-2) of 23.4 at 273 K and 1.13 bar were achieved among the prepared HCPs. This study provides a simple and cost-effective method to convert WEPS into value-added adsorbents for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide as the greenhouse gas. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.