Use of Recycled Sachet Water Waste for Electrical Insulation

Abstract

This work examines the reuse of recycled sachet water wastes for electrical insulation. The waste, being chiefly polyethylene, is a kind of material whose internal electric charges does not flow freely, thereby not having the ability to conduct current and as such is a good electrical insulator. A review of literature shows that several efforts have been made at disposal and efficient use of sachet water wastes. In this work, the conversion of the waste sachets to electrical insulators was achieved by a series of processes involving washing and drying of the sachets, deinking, grinding, pelletizing and casting to obtain the insulator instead of extrusion which is the standard process used in wire and cable coating. This is because household wire and cables are made from polyvinylchloride (PVC) and the extruders being used are designed to handle PVC only. A detailed and comprehensive study showed that most of the desired properties of an insulator can be obtained using recycled sachet water waste as material for electrical insulation, while other properties such as pore-free insulation and smooth surface finish that were not obtained was due to the crude means of producing the insulator. These hindered the insulation resistance test. ^©University of Ibadan

Keywords: Sachet-water waste, Pollution, Polyethylene, Insulators