Recovery of Aluminum and Preparation of Porous Carbon from Tetra Pak Waste

Pyrolysis of paper and polyethylene in Tetra Pak waste occurred at 368 and 490 °C, respectively, while aluminum did not melted until the temperature reached 660 °C, thus aluminum and char can be obtained by carbonization of Tetra Pak waste at 550 °C. Pyrolytic char was processed into porous carbons by different methods. Specific surface area of the porous carbon prepared by carbonization of acid‐washed char at 850 °C achieved 741 m 2  g −1 , and the specific surface area of the porous carbon prepared from char by successively carbonization at 850 °C and acid‐washing was 732 m 2  g −1 . The developed porous structure was formed due to the polymerization of char above 650 °C, while the etching of char by CO 2 generated via decomposition of inherent calcite led to a lower microporosity. Methylene blue adsorption capacity of the optimized sample reached 140 mg g −1 , and the equilibrium data followed Langmuir model.