Leaching of aluminium from post-consumer beverage packaging residual PolyAl using biogenic organic acids : Towards low-cost, sustainable recycling
Pinaya, Jhonny ; Boiko, Yuliia LU ; Ismail, Mohamed LU
; Wahlberg, Jan
LU
; Pyo, Sang-Hyun
LU
; Vargas, Virginia A.
and Hatti-Kaul, Rajni
LU
(2025)
In Waste Management
204.
- Abstract
Plastic packaging provides enormous benefits for preservation and transportation of food and beverage products. However, recycling the multilayered packaging materials represents a challenge due to the complexity of separating the components making up the different layers. The drinks packaging, having aluminium (Al) as a light barrier placed between polyethylene layers inside the paperboard carton, comprises a significant category of post-consumer waste in need of complete recycling. Microbially produced organic acids are gaining attention for recovery of metals from industrial residues. This report presents a study on evaluation of acetic- and gluconic acid, which are known to be produced by acetic acid bacteria, for leaching out the... (More)
Plastic packaging provides enormous benefits for preservation and transportation of food and beverage products. However, recycling the multilayered packaging materials represents a challenge due to the complexity of separating the components making up the different layers. The drinks packaging, having aluminium (Al) as a light barrier placed between polyethylene layers inside the paperboard carton, comprises a significant category of post-consumer waste in need of complete recycling. Microbially produced organic acids are gaining attention for recovery of metals from industrial residues. This report presents a study on evaluation of acetic- and gluconic acid, which are known to be produced by acetic acid bacteria, for leaching out the Al from Tetra Pak PolyAl material remaining after removal of the paperboard. By using Taguchi design technique L9 (3)4, optimal conditions for 100 % Al leaching from 1 % (w/v) PolyAl (0.4 cm2) were determined to be treatment at pH 1 and 50 °C with 0.25 M acetic acid for 6 days or 1 M gluconic acid for 15 days. Increasing the PolyAl concentration to 2 % w/v and particle size to 4 cm2 resulted in increase in the time for maximal Al leaching. Various microscopic, spectroscopic and thermal analyses techniques confirmed the removal of Al and revealed no notable change in the properties of the residual PE. The metal released was recovered nearly quantitatively (99.5 %) by precipitation as Al(OH)3 only from the acetic acid leachate. The results indicate the potential of the leaching method in providing a greener route for recycling the Al containing packaging material using biogenic organic acids.
(Less)
- author
- Pinaya, Jhonny
; Boiko, Yuliia
LU
; Ismail, Mohamed
LU
; Wahlberg, Jan
LU
; Pyo, Sang-Hyun
LU
; Vargas, Virginia A.
and Hatti-Kaul, Rajni
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-08-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Acetic acid, Acetic acid bacteria, Aluminium leaching, Gluconic acid, Packaging recycling, Taguchi design
- in
- Waste Management
- volume
- 204
- article number
- 114913
- pages
- 11 pages
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:40472399
- scopus:105007150455
- ISSN
- 0956-053X
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.wasman.2025.114913
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
- id
- 9cc9e7ae-0ae0-481d-aab8-acb6aac2609d
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-15 15:05:20
- date last changed
- 2025-06-29 17:15:23
@article{9cc9e7ae-0ae0-481d-aab8-acb6aac2609d,
abstract = {{<p>Plastic packaging provides enormous benefits for preservation and transportation of food and beverage products. However, recycling the multilayered packaging materials represents a challenge due to the complexity of separating the components making up the different layers. The drinks packaging, having aluminium (Al) as a light barrier placed between polyethylene layers inside the paperboard carton, comprises a significant category of post-consumer waste in need of complete recycling. Microbially produced organic acids are gaining attention for recovery of metals from industrial residues. This report presents a study on evaluation of acetic- and gluconic acid, which are known to be produced by acetic acid bacteria, for leaching out the Al from Tetra Pak PolyAl material remaining after removal of the paperboard. By using Taguchi design technique L<sub>9</sub> (3)<sup>4</sup>, optimal conditions for 100 % Al leaching from 1 % (w/v) PolyAl (0.4 cm<sup>2</sup>) were determined to be treatment at pH 1 and 50 °C with 0.25 M acetic acid for 6 days or 1 M gluconic acid for 15 days. Increasing the PolyAl concentration to 2 % w/v and particle size to 4 cm<sup>2</sup> resulted in increase in the time for maximal Al leaching. Various microscopic, spectroscopic and thermal analyses techniques confirmed the removal of Al and revealed no notable change in the properties of the residual PE. The metal released was recovered nearly quantitatively (99.5 %) by precipitation as Al(OH)<sub>3</sub> only from the acetic acid leachate. The results indicate the potential of the leaching method in providing a greener route for recycling the Al containing packaging material using biogenic organic acids.</p>}},
author = {{Pinaya, Jhonny and Boiko, Yuliia and Ismail, Mohamed and Wahlberg, Jan and Pyo, Sang-Hyun and Vargas, Virginia A. and Hatti-Kaul, Rajni}},
issn = {{0956-053X}},
keywords = {{Acetic acid; Acetic acid bacteria; Aluminium leaching; Gluconic acid; Packaging recycling; Taguchi design}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Waste Management}},
title = {{Leaching of aluminium from post-consumer beverage packaging residual PolyAl using biogenic organic acids : Towards low-cost, sustainable recycling}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2025.114913}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.wasman.2025.114913}},
volume = {{204}},
year = {{2025}},
}