Kaleah's Chemistry Blog : Paper Mill Project

Problem: A paper mill in town generates waste and an objectionable odor.

Come up with an idea to:
Determine the properties and composition of the by-product within your understanding, and then:

Devise an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the waste, or
Explore a way to make use of the waste, or
Neutralize the odor, or
Mitigate fire danger, or
Make, create, or improve upon current issues.

Introduction:

My solution to the problem is a combination of 2 and 3. I am exploring a way to make use of the waste and creating a solution to a current issue. The way that I am going about this is death. Though it may seem a bit morbid, I figured that maybe I could improve upon some of its aspects. Currently, in the United States there are only 4 legal ways to process a body. Those options are:

Cremation: Where a body is put into a heated brick layer and is burned until there is nothing left but bone. The bone is then grinded into the substance commonly referred to as ash.
Embalmment: Where a body is treated chemically to sustain and refrain from decomposition for a prolonged amount of time.
Burial: Which is the most common disposition of a body in which a grave is dug 6 feet below the surface, and the body (encased in a casket) is lowered into the hole and buried under dirt; complete with a tombstone.
And donation to science: Where a body is left to professional scientists to do with what they will.

My thought in this project was to either create another way to process a corpse or to improve upon one; more specifically cremation. As briefed above, the initial step to cremation is the burning of the body. Perhaps I could use a different approach to this first step. This approach is to decompose the body with chemically altered paper waste from the mill.This way, if a client didn't very much like the idea of enflaming their ancestors, they could use chemically altered paper waste instead. It's hypothetically the green burial of cremation.

To begin this project, I researched quite a few things. Most important was the decomposition process of a human; which goes like this:

Initial decay: 0-3 days after death. Bacteria feeds on intestine and eventually break out into the body cavity and digests organs and tissues. The digestive enzymes that were in the intestines escape and feed on other bacteria and intestine. The heart and lungs stop due to lack of oxygen and blood. The blood will drain from blood vessels and settle at the underneath of the body. Brain cells die a few minutes after the heart stops. The muscle cells live for a couple of hours and the skin and bone cells stay alive for days. These cells survive with anaerobic respiration which produces a build up of lactic acid causing rigormortis. The body then stops fighting bacteria. The carbohydrates in the body are broken down by microorganisms. The glycogen breaks down into glucose monomers which are completely decomposed into carbon dioxide and water or are incompletely decomposed into organic acids and alcohols or other oxygenated compounds.
Putrefaction: 4-10 days after death. The broken down tissues and cells give off gas (such as hydrogen sulfide, methane, cadaverine, and putrescine). These gasses cause the body to inflate due to the process of hydrolysis. The cell enzymes and bacteria enzymes cause the body to decompose and makes muscles lose their stiffness. The protiens in the body go through the process of proteolysis which breaks down the protiens into smaller compounds.
Black Putrefaction: 10-20 days after death. The skin softens and the bloated body collapses on itself.
Butyric fermentation: 20-50 days after death. Body dries out and Butyric acid is given off.
Dry decay: 50+ days after death. Diagnesis is the process of bones decaying. Organic collagen is broken down with bacterial collagenases which break protien into peptides, which are reduced to amino acids. Once the collagen is removed from the bone, the hydroxlapatite content is decomposed by inorganic mineral weathering; meaning calcium is lost to the environment. This weakens the strong protien-mineral bond, causing the structure to weaken further and further until the bone fully disintegrates.

I knew from the beginning that the opportunity to test my experiment on a human corpse was not going to be readily available. As a substitute I used chicken thighs which are commonly found in the everyday grocery store. Since all mammals have a decomposition process akin to one another, I figured that using this chicken would not jurasstically differ from my experiment if it were tested on a human.

Chemical Data Table:

Water (H₂0) 18.00g/mol, mp 0・c, colorless, minimal solubility, no hazards.
Sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) 98.08g/mol, mp -35・c, colorless, soluble, severely toxic.
Hydrochloric acid (HCl) N/Ag/mol, mp -62.25・c, liquid, soluble, hazardous.
Potassium Iodide (KI) 166g/mol, mp 681・c, white, soluble, toxic.
Ethanol (CH₃CO₂H) 60.05g/mol, mp 16.2・c, colorless, slight solubility, hazardous.
SPN Sludge (N/A) N/Ag/mol, mpN/A・c, grey fibrous material, poorly soluble, minimal hazards.

Safety:

Wear goggles and apron.
Do not directly smell chemicals; waft instead.
Tie back long hair.
Do not eat in lab.

Materials:
Equipment:

50mL beaker
Chicken thighs
Stirring rod
Balance Beam
Scoopula

Chemicals:

Ethanol
Water
Sulfuric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Potassium Iodide
SPN sludge

Procedure:

Measure weight of beaker with blance beam.
Put paper waste (SPN sludge) in beaker and measure weight again, subtracting the weight of the beaker to result in the weight of the paper waste.
Measure 10mL of Water and mix with paper waste. Stir with stirring rod.
Record data.
Repeat steps 1-4 with Ethanol, Potassium Iodide, Hydrochloric acid, and Sulfuric acid.
Place aqueous mixtures of chemicals and paper waste on separate chicken thighs with scoopula.
Wrap chicken thighs in seran wrap, and let sit for a couple of days.
Unwrap and record data.

Data:

waste + water =watery, sticky pulp; no major reaction
beaker: 40.961g, Pulp: 9.388g, 10mL 50% ethanol; no major reaction
beaker: 50.22g, Pulp: 9.723g, 20mL 6M HCl; pulp reacts vigorously with bubbles and distinct odor, crackles and pops.
beaker: 30.51g, Pulp: 3.35g, 10 mL 1M KI; no major reaction.
beaker: 140.03g, Pulp: 10.062g, 20mL Sulfuric Acid; bubbles for a long time and a bad smell.

Analysis:

I applied quantitative and qualitative concepts of chemistry in an appropriate and meaningful way by researching my project deeply and conducting my experiments with as much accuracy as possible.
My Project applies both breadth and depth because i needed broad information on the process of decomposition in mammals and needed to display it in my project as a broad concept as well as having a wide base of use for my experiment. My depth comes in to play when I focus on the actual experiment, and specific death.
The problem is that a paper mill generates waste. To solve this problem, I have devised a use for the paper waste by chemically altering it and devising away to use it as an option of aid in decomposition.
To carry out this decomposition "aid" it would cost about $18.00 for a liter of sulfuric acid to mix with the paper waste. I have realized hat this lab is not as efficient as I expected it to be, therefore it may not be very applicable to the world. However, I believe that my idea is a great starting basis for another great idea, which could possibly lead to another option of decomposition in the US; as I originally aimed for.
I did have a few specific limitations in this experiment; the most obvious being a human corpse. My 2nd major setback was indeed time. Though I did have enough time to keep an eye on the chicken and at least observe a fraction of the decomposition, I would have liked to have observed the peak of the decomposition.

Conclusion:

This lab was a great idea from the start, and I'm really glad that I finally stuck with my first idea for something. My idea for this project could be completely useful for the paper mill, however, getting people to take this idea into consideration may be a bit difficult, especially when there is so much perfecting needed on the project; I guess that's why people donate their bodies to science. The reality of this project is again, that is needs to be worked on. It is far from perfect and could definitely be enhanced to work a bit better. Its cost is relatively cheap compared to the cost of embalming chemicals. Its efficiency, is still very questionable. It is safe for people and other living things to a point. The global impact on people and the environment could be great, if it is perfected. It could be useful in so many ways. Don't try this at home. (;

Pictures: