Preparation of microcapsules composed of waste-expanded polystyrene and paper fiber by semichemical recycle

Microcapsules composed of waste paper fibers and plastics were prepared by semichemical recycle method. Newspaper and expanded polystyrene (EPS) for packing electric appliances were used as the raw materials of paper fiber (FB) and plastics, respectively. In this experiment, fibers were treated with a few surface treating agents prior to the encapsulation operation in order to improve the dispersability in the nonaqueous liquid phase and then in the shell of microcapsules. Microcapsules prepared thus were found to be of single-cored type. Furthermore, it was found that the mechanical strength of microcapsules was increased by addition of fibers and there were the optimum concentrations of the surface treating agents. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 2662–2669, 2001