Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting

Organic synthetic research laboratories generate a large amount of waste. Some of the waste is the silica gel used as the stationary phase in column chromatographic separations. Here, the authors discuss the possibility of recycling silica gel wastes thermally at 600 °C, at which temperature...

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Main Authors:	Fatima Sbait Wahshi, Maitha Dhaiman Alqahtani, Manhal Abdulla, Abdullah Al-Hemyari, Muna Bufaroosha, Tholkappiyan Ramachandran, Fathalla Hamed, Thies Thiemann
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	MDPI AG 2019-03-01
Series:	Proceedings
Subjects:	silica gel chemical waste column chromatography thermolysis environmental impact assessment
Online Access:	http://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/9/1/28

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spelling	doaj-c6ebc6512e91431ead9e987d5d6eaf842020-11-25T01:20:23ZengMDPI AGProceedings2504-39002019-03-01912810.3390/ecsoc-22-05696ecsoc-22-05696Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory SettingFatima Sbait Wahshi0Maitha Dhaiman Alqahtani1Manhal Abdulla2Abdullah Al-Hemyari3Muna Bufaroosha4Tholkappiyan Ramachandran5Fathalla Hamed6Thies Thiemann7Department of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Physics, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Physics, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEDepartment of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain, UAEOrganic synthetic research laboratories generate a large amount of waste. Some of the waste is the silica gel used as the stationary phase in column chromatographic separations. Here, the authors discuss the possibility of recycling silica gel wastes thermally at 600 °C, at which temperature the remnant adsorbed organic material combusts. It could be shown that the recycled silica gel maintains its adsorption characteristics. The process could be repeated 10 times with any discernable deterioration of the separation properties of the silica gel for the product mixture of the reactions used in this research. In those cases where triphenyl oxide remained on the silica gel after the separation of the reaction mixture, such as after Wittig olefination and Appel-type reactions, an increase of phosphorus content was noted in the silica gel after thermal treatment. The original and recycled silica gel was partly analyzed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The process significantly reduced waste production in our laboratory and also led to a reduction in costs associated with acquiring new silica gel and with the management and the disposal of spent silica gel. A simple environmental impact assessment has been carried out.http://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/9/1/28silica gelchemical wastecolumn chromatographythermolysisenvironmental impact assessment
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Fatima Sbait Wahshi Maitha Dhaiman Alqahtani Manhal Abdulla Abdullah Al-Hemyari Muna Bufaroosha Tholkappiyan Ramachandran Fathalla Hamed Thies Thiemann
spellingShingle	Fatima Sbait Wahshi Maitha Dhaiman Alqahtani Manhal Abdulla Abdullah Al-Hemyari Muna Bufaroosha Tholkappiyan Ramachandran Fathalla Hamed Thies Thiemann Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting Proceedings silica gel chemical waste column chromatography thermolysis environmental impact assessment
author_facet	Fatima Sbait Wahshi Maitha Dhaiman Alqahtani Manhal Abdulla Abdullah Al-Hemyari Muna Bufaroosha Tholkappiyan Ramachandran Fathalla Hamed Thies Thiemann
author_sort	Fatima Sbait Wahshi
title	Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting
title_short	Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting
title_full	Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting
title_fullStr	Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting
title_full_unstemmed	Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting
title_sort	our experience of using thermally recycled silica gel in a teaching and small research laboratory setting
publisher	MDPI AG
series	Proceedings
issn	2504-3900
publishDate	2019-03-01
description	Organic synthetic research laboratories generate a large amount of waste. Some of the waste is the silica gel used as the stationary phase in column chromatographic separations. Here, the authors discuss the possibility of recycling silica gel wastes thermally at 600 °C, at which temperature the remnant adsorbed organic material combusts. It could be shown that the recycled silica gel maintains its adsorption characteristics. The process could be repeated 10 times with any discernable deterioration of the separation properties of the silica gel for the product mixture of the reactions used in this research. In those cases where triphenyl oxide remained on the silica gel after the separation of the reaction mixture, such as after Wittig olefination and Appel-type reactions, an increase of phosphorus content was noted in the silica gel after thermal treatment. The original and recycled silica gel was partly analyzed by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The process significantly reduced waste production in our laboratory and also led to a reduction in costs associated with acquiring new silica gel and with the management and the disposal of spent silica gel. A simple environmental impact assessment has been carried out.
topic	silica gel chemical waste column chromatography thermolysis environmental impact assessment
url	http://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/9/1/28
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Our Experience of Using Thermally Recycled Silica Gel in a Teaching and Small Research Laboratory Setting

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