j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2994–3000

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

A new technique of processing for waste-expanded

polystyrene foams as aggregates

Abdulkadir Kan a , Ramazan Demirboğa b,∗

a Vocational College of Erzurum, Construction Program, Atatürk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey
b Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Atatürk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In daily life, expanded polystyrene foams (EPS) are widely used as packaging material, con-
Received 2 April 2008 struction material, and in household appliances as well as many others. On the other hand,
Received in revised form waste EPS has caused lots of environmental pollutions because it cannot be decomposed
26 June 2008 in nature. Utilization of waste EPS in concrete technology is more common. In this study,
Accepted 2 July 2008 a new recycling process developed of the waste EPS foams by using heat treatment. Its
characters and process are described in this paper, as well as its experimental system.
This technique reduces the volume of waste EPS about 20 times of the original. Before
Keywords: the heat treatment, the average density, thermal conductivity and compressive strength of
Waste recycling process waste EPS foams were 10 kg/m3 , 0.0368 W/mK, and 0.12 MPa, respectively. The best result of
Modified polymer foams modification was determined at 130 ◦ C and 15 min. After the modification, density, thermal
Environment conductivity and compressive strength of waste EPS, increased to 217 kg/m3 , 0.0555 W/mK
and 8.29 MPa, respectively. This new material, which is obtained after the heat treatment,
is called modified waste EPS (MEPS).
© 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
For years, people have been trying to keep the environment
clean. Scientific studies provide us with information on how
we can maintain the natural balance of life, and recycling has
a primary role in these studies. Because of natural disasters
or increasing population and urbanization, great amounts of
waste materials are produced. These waste materials include
iron, wood, glass, ceramics, rubber and EPS. To make the
recycling of these various materials productive, we should
first separate them according to their types. According to
Topcu (1997) that is impossible to manage simply through
manpower; complex recycling centers need to be established.
These facilities should be constructed in places that receive
heavy damage after natural disasters or that cannot find
enough materials to produce less capital than the other costs.
In another study, Hantila et al. (2007) studied on the per-
formances of a waste recycling separator with permanent
magnets. In their study, it was indicated that the separation
is a very important component of the waste recycling tech-
nology. Vivian and Tam (2006) pointed out the economic and
environmental benefits to be gained from waste recycling are
immense, since it will benefit both the environment and the
construction industry in terms of cost reduction.
Unmodified EPS foams have a cellular microstructure with
closed cell membranes made of expandable polystyrene (PS)
and its density is typically less than 50 kg/m3 . EPS is currently
used as a packaging or insulating material in various industrial
fields in the world. A large quantity of EPS is consumed, and
is disposed as a waste. On the other hand, it is well known

∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 442 231 4768; fax: +90 442 236 0957.
E-mail address: ramazan@atauni.edu.tr (R. Demirboğa).
0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2008.07.017
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2994–3000
that the waste EPS has caused many environmental prob-
lems, especially water and land pollution, because it cannot
be decomposed in nature.
According to result of the literature review, waste EPS foams
can be recycled in many ways once it comes to the end of
its life. The choice of a recycling method is based on techni-
cal, environmental and economic considerations. Alternative
systems using recycled materials contribute to environmental
waste reduction and the development of sustainable products
for the concrete industry. Although recycled EPS foam does not
have the same expansion characteristics as virgin foam bead
and requires different treatment during processing, it appears
to be a viable material for composite materials. Noguchi et al.
(1998) reported that the EPS recycling mainly has three kinds
of methods. The first is material recycling, which is reducing
EPS in volume by heating, solvent, or friction at first, and then
PS can be recovered as an ingot or pellet, and reused into raw
material, daily products, construction material and so on. The
second is chemical recycling, which is aimed at recovering the
styrene monomer to reuse as chemical resource. The third is
thermal recycling, an effective method for the contaminated
waste EPS, by which the waste EPS can be used for energy
generation through combustion.
Noguchi et al. (1998) developed a new recycling system for
waste EPS using a natural solvent. In their study they pro-
posed a new system of recycling EPS, which uses an orange
oil, d-limonene, as the EPS shrinking agent has been proved
practical. The recycling plant can mass reproduce polystyrene
(PS) with the same mechanical properties as new PS. The recy-
cled limonene can be reused at least 10 times. Amianti and
Botaro (2008) carried out a new recycling method of waste
EPS. In their study, the impregnation sample was prepared by
the dissolution of EPS in a mixture of acetone and cicloexane.
This research was conducted to identify a new material to be
economical, efficient and easily applied, as part of concrete
impregnated with polystyrene (CIP), so as to reduce the per-
meability of pre-cast concrete surfaces, thereby, reducing the
rate of degradation and increasing overall durability.
Heat treatment is used to modify properties of materials in
addition to hardening and softening. These processes modify
the behavior of the EPS in a beneficial manner to maximize
service life, e.g., strength properties, density, or some other
desirable properties, e.g., water absorption and thermal con-
ductivity. Thermal treatments are used in many industries to
improve the mechanical properties of wastes. However, there
was no any study to improve the properties of EPS by heat
treatment. Most clean waste EPS have been recycled effec-
tively. On the other hand, dirty waste EPS, with their low
recycling rate; have been dumped into landfill sites.
There was no enough information about the thermal mod-
ified EPS aggregates in the technical literature. Miskolczi et al.
(2006) studied thermal degradation of waste EPS into fuel like
diesel oil. The temperature range of 410–450 ◦ C was used in
the process. They were found that both gas and liquid yields
increased with increasing temperature of degradation, and
nearly complete cracking could be attained at 450 ◦ C. Yanhong
et al. (2001) studied thermal, physical and chemical stabil-
ity of EPS beads. They suggested that, the thermal stability
increased obviously with crosslinking degree and at high tem-
perature before the thermal decomposition took place above
2995
350 ◦ C. Therefore, some authors suggested that the loss in the
strength might be minimized by prior treatment of the EPS
aggregate.
Very limited studies have been conducted on the use of
chemically modified EPS in the concrete mixture or other prod-
ucts. For example, the resistance to chemical attack for the
concretes containing chemically treated EPS was studied by
Ravinrarajah and Tuck (1994) earlier. They reported that these
concretes were unaffected by saturated calcium hydroxide,
10% sodium sulphate and 10% ammonium sulphate solutions.
It was shown that such EPS aggregate concrete is more durable
when it is subjected to sulfate attack or freeze–thaw cycles.
In previous reports, some bonding additives were suggested,
such as epoxy resin or aqueous dispersions of polyvinyl pro-
pionate. However, these are costly. In addition, EPS concrete
in these reports was within very low strength range. Babu and
Babu (2004) attributed this strength loss to the lack of adhesion
between EPS aggregate and the paste; because of unmodified
EPS have almost zero strength.
Babu and Babu (2003) reported that virgin or waste EPS
can be used as ultra lightweight aggregate. It is suitable for
developing concretes for both structural and non-structural
applications by varying its volume percentage in mortar or
concrete. However, unmodified EPS beads have two disad-
vantages that constrain the application and popularization
of EPS concrete: they are extremely light, with a density of
only 10–50 kg/m3 , which can cause segregation in mixing, and
they are hydrophobic. Waste EPS foams tend to resist absorp-
tion of water. Accordingly, cement paste does not adhere very
well to them. Furthermore, their extremely low density makes
them tend to segregate by floating out of the mix. This obsta-
cle was solved by Prostyrene (2008). Prostyren is a modified
EPS aggregate, which is based upon the special pre-treatment
of the EPS particles. The input EPS particles could be in both
forms: new granulate or recycled (crushed) EPS. The special
pre-treatment by Prostyren Technology gives the particles the
ability of easy integration into concrete. The output products
are the pretreated EPS particles ready to use in concrete.
Most of the research as mentioned above has shown a
remarkable decrease in the mechanical properties of concrete
after addition of waste EPS as aggregate. Therefore, in this
study, a type of aggregate was developed, with up to 8 MPa
design strength. Hence, thermal treatment is needed. As it
can be seen from previous study that thermal treatment is
a process by which heat is applied to waste in order to exter-
minate it or reduce its volume, prior to reuse. The primary
function of thermal treatment is to convert the waste to a sta-
ble and usable product and reduce the amount that requires
final disposal in landfills.
Because mechanical properties of waste EPS foams are very
little or not known, so they have not been used in concrete
aggregate. Alternatively, the waste EPS foams can crumble and
modified by heat treatment, to get tough EPS aggregate, for
materials such as lightweight concrete (LWC) and other appli-
cations. The main aim of this study is to get an extra source
for LWA and reduce the environmental pollution. For this rea-
son, the recycled aggregates were obtained from waste EPS
foams that have already been picked-up from environment.
The mechanical and physical properties of the waste EPS used
in this study summarized in Table 1.
2996 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2994–3000

Fig. 1 – Description of the modification process of waste EPS foams.

a waste EPS foam packaging materials (Fig. 2a). Because of

2. Experimental program and processing
2.1. Experimental program and test results
2.1.1. Changing volume and density of the waste EPS by
heat treatment technique
The generally description of this modification process is
shown in Fig. 1. In order to investigate the changing of volume
and density, thermal conductivity, and compressive strength
by heat treatment technique, a number of cubic and plates sec-
tion was prepared in the laboratory, 50 mm × 50 mm × 50 mm,
and 300 mm × 200 mm × 35 mm size sample were cut from
shrink at the end of the heat treatment, all EPS specimens
were cut bigger than that of the standard dimension of the
aggregate.
All of the EPS samples were exposed to the different tem-
peratures such as 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 ◦ C for 15, 30,
45, 60 and 120 min in a digital-controlled electrical oven. It is
possible to reduce the volume of waste EPS to 1/10–1/20 of the
original size. Deformed shapes of EPS foams after heat treat-
ment are shown in Figs. 2b, 2c and 3. When a waste EPS is
heated from a low temperature, it transforms from a foamy
state to a plastic state. Above 130 ◦ C and 15 min, MEPS spec-
imen’s structure was too hard and brittle. After 15 min, the

Fig. 2 – (a) Collected waste EPS foams, (b) MEPS aggregate, and (c) MEPS plates for TC.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2994–3000
Table 1 – Average specifications of waste EPS foam
samples
Density (kg/m3 )
Compressive strength (MPa)
Thermal conductivity (W/mK)
Maximum absorption % by volume
Glass temperature (◦ C)
Fig. 3 – Deformed shapes of EPS foam cubic specimens, at
different time and temperatures.
Fig. 4 – Changing density of waste EPS at different oven
temperature at 15 min period.
EPS foams specimens shrunk. Changing density and volume
of waste EPS foams at different oven temperatures at 15 min
period can be seen in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. Figs. 4 and 5
show weight and volume change (%) of the specimens heat-
treated at different temperatures (Table 2). The weight change
Fig. 5 – Changing volume of waste EPS at different oven
temperature at 15 min period.
2997
values were evaluated according to the following equation:
m1 − m2
10 weight and volume chance(%) = × 100 (1)
m2
0.12
0.0369 where m1 and m2 are the weights or volume of the samples
<3
before and after thermal treatment. The weight changes of
95
the specimens are affected by the increase of the heat treat-
ment temperatures, and it is hard to suggest any relation of
the weight change according to heat treatment temperature.
The density of EPS was nearly constant up to the 100 ◦ C for
15 min duration. The variation of density with the tempera-
ture is given in Fig. 4. From this, it can be seen that the density
increased with an increase in temperature. At 110, 120, 130,
140 and 150 ◦ C for 15 min the density of the MEPS increased
189%, 1700%, 2070%, 3140% and 3130%, respectively. The max-
imum increment percent was observed at 120 ◦ C, after this
temperature the increment percent decreased. This is may
be due to the melting point of EPS at that degree. The max-
imum density was observed at 140 ◦ C, but the structure of the
MEPS were completely changed and the inside voids also filled
with melted matter. After this temperature the density was
constant or even decreased a little. The increasing of MEPS
aggregates’ density may be related to the density of virgin
waste EPS foams. After 130 ◦ C, the increasing density of MEPS
was very high. The above observation indicated that, the best-
exposed temperature and duration was 130 ◦ C and 15 min,
respectively. As it can be seen in Fig. 5, increasing tempera-
ture lead to a gradual decrease of volume at all levels of time.
In short increasing time leads to a gradual decrease of volume.
The changes in the volume due to the temperature from 20 to
80 ◦ C for 15 min were constant. At 100, 110, 120, 130, 140 and
150 ◦ C for 15 min, the volume of the MEPS decreased 8%, 66%,
94%, 95%, 97% and 97%, respectively.
2.1.2. Availability of MEPS aggregate by heat treatment
Crumbled granules are produced by mechanically disintegrat-
ing unusable or poor quality EPS slabs and from recycled
EPS foam plastic. The EPS foams were crushed by crushing
machine into small pieces such that their size and shape 3–10
times of the natural aggregates prior to the heat treatment.
Crumbled granules are of irregular shape. The EPS crusher can
be optionally attached with EPS sieving devices, composing
the integral EPS recycling system (Fig. 1).
The crushed waste EPS foams were subjected to the heat
treatment method for modifying; it was explained before,
130 ◦ C for 15 min, in a digital-controlled electrical oven. After
15 min, the crushed waste MEPS materials are available. The
Table 2 – Average specifications of MEPS at 130 ◦ C and
15 min
Density (kg/m3 ) 217
Compressive strength (MPa) 8.29
Thermal conductivity (W/mK) 0.0555
Increasing ratio of density (%) 2070
Increasing ratio of compressive strength (%) 6900
Loss of weight after 10 cycles freezing and thaw (%) 0.31
Absorption by weight (Sa ) (%) 4.1
Absorption by volume (Sh ) (%) 0.58
2998 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2994–3000
Fig. 6 – Changing of TC at different oven temperature of
MEPS (predefined time is 15 min).
volume of EPS reduced to 1/20th of the original size. As it can be
seen from Fig. 2b, that obtained MEPS aggregate, have different
size and shapes by the heat treatment.
2.2. Used methods to evaluate MEPS aggregate
properties and test results
2.2.1. Thermal conductivity (TC) of MEPS
Laukaitis et al. (2005) reported that the reduction of
energy consumption in construction, production of thermal-
insulation materials, and the solution of environment
problems by recycling of industrial and domestic waste are
becoming greater problems. It is important to know the ther-
mal properties of this new material in order to study its
performance in the insulation of buildings. In order to investi-
gate thermal conductivity (TC), of MEPS aggregates, obtained
from waste EPS foams have different density, three samples
were prepared for the test. A quick thermal conductivity meter
(QTM 500) based on ASTM C 1113 (1990) hot wire method was
used to measure the aforementioned as follows: measure-
ment range is 0.0116–6 W/mK. Measurement precision is ±5%
of reading value per reference plate. Reproducibility is ±3%
of reading value per reference plate. Measurement tempera-
ture is −100 to 1000 ◦ C. This method has wide applications
in determining TC of refractory materials where, instead of
measuring heat flow, the temperature variation with time at
certain locations is measured. Sample size required is three
pieces of 100 mm W × 80 mm L × 20 mm thick or more.
MEPS is highly resistant to heat flow. Its uniform, closed cel-
lular structure limits radiant, convective and conductive heat
transfer. The thermal conductivity of MEPS varies with density
and exposure to temperature, as shown in Fig. 6. TC increased
with increasing of temperature and increments percents were
7, 23, 50, 96 and 124 for 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 ◦ C and 15 min,
respectively. On the other hand it was determined that the
TC of MEPS was increasing with increasing density. While the
density values of MEPS were 28, 173, 217, 280 and 283 kg/m3 ,
at 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150 ◦ C/15 min, TC values were 0.0393,
0.0454, 0.0555, 0.0725 and 0.0828 W/mK, respectively.
2.2.2. Investigating compressive strength of MEPS
The compressive strength of the specimens after heat treat-
ment was determined over the cubic MEPS specimens
subjected to standard uniaxial compressive tests at 10%
Fig. 7 – Changing of compressive strength of EPS and MEPS.
deformations. Laukaitis et al. (2005) reported that, when the
deformation reaches 10%, the failure of the EPS specimens
is accepted. The following Eq. (2) calculated the changing of
relative compressive strength.
 
MEPS
R = × 100 (2)
EPS
where  EPS is the compressive strength (MPa) before heat treat-
ment and  MEPS is the compressive strength (MPa) after heat
treatment. Test results are presented in Figs. 7 and 8. As it
can be seen from Fig. 8 that compressive strength increased
with increasing of temperature at all levels of exposed tem-
peratures. At 130 ◦ C the increment percent was 6900 and
maximum. After 130 ◦ C increment percents, compressive
strength of MEPS decreased with increase of temperature
when compared to the increment percent of 130 ◦ C. This is
may be due to the brittle structure of MEPS at higher temper-
ature.
2.2.3. Water absorption, density and freeze–thaw
resistance of MEPS aggregates
MEPS’s do not absorb water because it is consisting of about
million closed cellular. Water absorption and dry density of
MEPS aggregate sample are measured according to TS EN
1097-6 (2000). Water absorption ratio of MEPS aggregates was
calculated both by weight and by volumetric methods for
4/16 mm grade.
The freeze–thaw resistance of aggregates may be evaluated
in several ways. In this study, MEPS aggregates were subjected
to the cycles of alternating freezing ant thawing. Ten cycles
were repeated according to the TS EN 1367-1 (2001). After the
sample was subjected to the 10 cycles of freezing and thawing,
Fig. 8 – Changing of compressive strength of MEPS with
temperature.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 9 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2994–3000
the sample dried to substantially constant weight at a temper-
ature of 60 ◦ C (although ASTM suggests a temperature range
of 100–110 ◦ C). The sample was then be sieved over a No. 8
sieve. The material passing the No. 8 sieve was calculated as
the “Percent Loss” based on the original oven-dry weight of the
sample before test. Freeze–thaw resistance test was applied to
the 8/16 mm size MEPS aggregate.
3. Results and discussion
The aim of this study is to evaluate the recyclability of waste
EPS foams as a fine and coarse aggregate for concrete and other
secondary construction materials such as wall bricked and
interlocking blocks. A basic experimental study on the phys-
ical and mechanical properties of modified waste EPS foams
as an aggregate provided the following results.
A heat treatment process is conducted at 100, 110, 120, 130,
140 and 150 ◦ C for 15, 30, 45, 60 min. Too much heat caused
hard and brittle structure of waste EPS foams. For example,
small particulars evaporated at 150 ◦ C and 60 min. The best
result was observed at 130 ◦ C and 15 min, heat treatment pro-
cess.
After heat treatment, the surface texture of MEPS aggre-
gates was similar to the surface of the crushed stone
aggregate. Its morphology was completely different from that
of original EPS foams. No deep cavities were encountered on
the surface of coarse MEPS aggregates. The above differences
in the surface structure of the MEPS were changed for different
temperature and heat treatment duration. The surface texture
of the MEPS aggregate was harder than that of unmodified
waste EPS.
The mechanical strength of EPS foams varied with its den-
sity. The compressive strength of the original waste EPS foams
was changed between 0.068 and 0.39 MPa (Kan and Demirboğa,
2007). As it can be seen from Fig. 7 that MEPS aggregate’s den-
sity changed between 205 and 287 kg/m3 , and compressive
strength at 10% deformations, from 1.75 to 8.29 MPa after the
heat treatment.
The rate of strength development of the MEPS aggregates
increased with increasing percentage of modify tempera-
ture and time. The strength of MEPS aggregates was found
to be directly proportional to the original EPS foams den-
sity. The strength of MEPS aggregate marginally increased at
130 ◦ C/15 min.
For the MEPS aggregate, the relationship between the den-
sity and the compressive strength follows:
MEPS
MEPS = 0.0437e0.0179 MPa
where  MEPS , is the density of MEPS aggregate (kg/m3 ) and
 MEPS is the compressive strength at 10% deformations (MPa).
Water absorption ratio was calculated of MEPS aggregates
both by weight and by volumetric methods. It was conducted
at 4/16 mm grade coarse MEPS aggregate. It is observed that the
absorption values of the MEPS aggregates of the present study
were much lower than other LWA reported in literature. The
water absorptions of the MEPS aggregate were 4.1% (by weight)
and 0.58% (by volumetric), on average. Most LWA’s exhibit sig-
nificantly higher water absorptions than normal aggregates,
2999
but the MEPS aggregate had low water absorption due to the
closed nature of the porosity and higher strength due to the
relatively small pore size.
The increasing of MEPS aggregates density is related to vir-
gin waste EPS foams density. In the heat treatment, after at
130 ◦ C, the increasing of density of MEPS was 2070% than that
of original, since EPS have more sensitive against temperature.
MEPS have density: 217 kg/m3 , much higher than original EPS
foams and thermal conductivity: 0.0555 W/mK, much lower
than other traditional LWA.
Resistance of freezing and thawing of MEPS aggregates
are obtained by quick test in water at repeated 10 cycles.
The weight loss of freezing–thawing of MEPS aggregates
was found 0.31%. A weight loss of the MEPS aggregate due
to the freeze–thaw cycles was in the standard limits. The
freeze–thaw resistance can be influenced by the origin of
aggregate and the freezing rate, but the most fundamental fac-
tor is the pore structure of the aggregate. The origin of MEPS is
plastic, so it has low water absorption, which has lower pore
volume, and more small pores, can have good resistance to
freezing and thawing.
4. Conclusion
We have developed a new recycling technology to shrink waste
EPS, by using thermal treatment method. The volume of EPS
can be reduced to about 1/10 to 20th of the original with this
method.
There was no study in technical literature to investigate
the modification of waste EPS by heat treatment method as
aggregate that is the original aspect of the study.
We have evaluated the properties of MEPS that have dif-
ferent density and shapes manufactured by thermal treated
method. The results of this study demonstrate that the per-
formance of MEPS exposed to aggressive environments was
better than unmodified one. MEPS is able to withstand the rig-
ors of temperature cycling, assuring long-term performance
due to modified.
We suggest that the “MEPS + concrete” can be used on non-
bearing wall, because that will not only revolve the default in
heat-insulation and acoustic-insulation, reduce cost by large
degree, but also be advantageous to the reuse and recovery.
MEPS aggregates used in the construction industry have
a very long effective lifetime because of their durability, so
disposal of the product is minimized. Waste EPS causes envi-
ronmental pollution and the cost of storage of it is very high.
Reuse, recycling and reducing the wastes are considered as
(3) the only methods to recover the wastes generated; however,
the executions still have much opportunity for improvement.
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