Possibility of photo-catalytic application of paint waste from aluminum can recycling

Abstract

Since several years we have proposed and practically used a unique process, which retrieving metallic Al from used beverage cans, caps and other Al-organic composite materials¹. This recycling process is characterized by the treatment without any melting, which saves a pretty amount of energy. In this process decorative coating containing metal oxide is detached as powder by mechanical process, which results in the higher purity of Al. The rest powder is only the waste yielded throughout this process. In this paper the waste of this detached paint powder was tested its possibility of photo-catalytic application because a large amount of TiO₂ was contained. Certain photo-catalytic effect was confirmed on sintered waste paint powder by irradiation of ultra violet light. The waste may be used as construction materials with photo-catalytic function.