Production of acetic acid from liquid crystal display waste by use of a hydrothermal method

Because of the large quantity of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in use, the volume of waste LCDs is ever-increasing, causing growing concern about their effective treatment. Polarizers are among the most important functional films used in LCDs and are mainly treated by incineration after being discarded. In this study, they were used to produce acetic acid under the hydrothermal conditions; this could aid development of a new environmentally sustainable process for treatment of waste polarizers. The experiment was performed in a 5.7-ml bath reactor heated by use of a salt-bath. The liquid product was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The effect of reaction temperature, reaction time, and oxidant on acetic acid production was investigated. Results showed that the yield and selectivity for acetic acid initially increased with increasing reaction temperature, reaction time, and H₂O₂ supply but then decreased within the ranges of the experiments performed. The highest acetic acid yield of 33.4 %, with selectivity of 26.7 % based on carbon, was obtained by hydrothermal treatment of waste polarizer at 350 °C for 5 min with 0.6 ml H₂O₂.