Romeo García Cruz

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a material with a wide range of applications in different sectors of everyday life and in industry. EPS is a major environmental challenge, as the properties that give it versatility of use make it a difficult waste to manage. Consequently, this type of plastic waste has a low recycling rate, which leads to the need to develop efficient solutions for its management and use postconsumer. Herein presents an assessment of the densification capacity of EPS waste using organic solvents as a sustainable strategy for the recovery of such waste. A mixed factorial experiment design was carried out in which the type of solvent, the revolutions per minute for agitation in the densification process and the concentration of the solvent were analyzed as incidence factors. A coefficient determination of 93.12% was obtained, demonstrating that the model fits normally. The results show that xylene and thinner have the best performance compared to other solvents used in the experiments. This study contributes to the optimization of solvent-based EPS densification processes by statistically identifying which ones are most effective under low-cost and low-energy consumption conditions, providing a scalable and replicable strategy, especially in regions where recycling infrastructure is limited.

El poliestireno es uno de los principales plásticos desechados en el mundo. Se estima que el consumo en México de este plástico oscila las 125,000 toneladas al año. De esta cantidad menos del 0.1% logra reciclarse. El aceite de cocina usado es otro residuo que en México se genera en grandes cantidades y que no cuenta con un proceso de reciclaje establecido. Este es uno de los principales causantes de la contaminación del agua. Su disposición final en redes de drenaje y consecuentemente en cuerpos de agua propician la degradación inminente de la flora y fauna con la que entra en contacto. Este estudio demuestra la viabilidad técnica del reciclaje por densificación de residuos de polietileno utilizando aceite de cocina usado como disolvente. Para lograrlo, se siguieron sencillos pasos que constaron del acopio de los residuos, el proceso de densificación y el análisis de los resultados. Con esta alternativa de reciclaje se obtiene la disminución del volumen de los residuos de poliestireno en un 90%. También se obtiene un producto plástico recuperado propicia el estudio de usos y aplicaciones para el mismo. Este procedimiento se proyecta como una alternativa económica y ecológica en comparación con otros métodos de reciclaje de los residuos mencionados.

Recently, the excessive generation of plastic waste and its inadequate management have represented a problem worldwide. Petrochemical plastics, which account for 80% of the world's total plastic use, are the main pollutants. With the growth of the population and its needs, the generation of polystyrene waste increases considerably. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) has a very low recycling rate; it is estimated that, of 125 thousand tons generated annually in Mexico, only 0.1% is recycled. The objective of this project is to obtain a preliminary diagnosis on the generation of EPS waste in the city of Misantla, Ver., which allows its post-consumer use as recycled raw material, under a circular economy approach. The methodological proposal for the development of this research was defined in the following steps: (1) characterization of the participating actors, from the Circular Economy approach; (2) identification of businesses that generate polystyrene as waste; (3) determination of the type of polystyrene generated; (4) estimation of the quantities of waste generated; (5) analysis in comparison with the generation of other types of waste; (6) generation of post-consumer use strategies. According to the 2019 Economic Census, in Misantla the economic sector with the largest number of economic units in the municipality is retail, where it is located, the sale of food in small establishments or street stores, these agents being identified as the main generators of polystyrene waste. A survey was applied to 96 companies, mainly in the food sector. The results of these surveys show that these establishments mainly use disposable products made of expanded polystyrene such as plates and cups, and that, in some cases, the use of disposable polystyrene products such as containers and spoons was identified. With the information collected, it is concluded that the use of disposable products generates approximately 765 kilograms of EPS waste. Unlike plastic waste, misinformation about the recycling of EPS, the lack of strategies for its collection and post-consumer use, as well as the lack of awareness for its recycling, give way to it ending up in final disposal sites, continuing with the trend framed in different investigations that maintain that its final destination is incineration. After the diagnosis, there is a concrete vision of the generation of polystyrene waste and future work is given in the generation and implementation of strategies that allow the use of post-consumer unicel for its return to the value chain.

This document aims to publicize the temperature evaluation carried out in the production area of ​​a bakery in the city of Misantla, said evaluation was carried out to know the temperatures to which the workers in this space are exposed during their working hours, as well as, to determine if the temperatures are within the permissible limits as established in NOM-015-STP-200. The methodology comprised recognition, evaluation, and control of elevated temperature conditions within the bakery. This study is descriptive and is developed as a quantitative investigation. The research population is made up of exposed workers in the bakery. The temperature evaluation was carried out according to the procedure established in point No. 9 of the standard, taking the temperatures with the help of a prototype measuring temperature and relative humidity (prepared at the Higher Technological Institute of Misantla) and a anemometer, obtaining a temperature index of 40.7 ° C, and given this result it has been concluded that the temperature index exceeds the Maximum Permissible Limits of exposure to high temperatures established by the standard, which becomes a threat for the health of Occupationally Exposed Personnel (POE).