The pyrolysis of individual plastics and a plastic mixture in a fixed bed reactor

✍ Scribed by Elizabeth A. Williams; Paul T. Williams

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 448 KB
• Volume: 70
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0268-2575
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4660(199709)70:1<9::aid-jctb700>3.0.co;2-e

✦ Synopsis

Six thermoplastics, which represent more than two-thirds of all polymer production in western Europe, were pyrolysed in a static batch reactor in a nitrogen atmosphere. These were high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The heating rate used was 25¡C min~1 to a Ðnal temperature of 700¡C. These six plastics were then mixed together to simulate the plastic fraction of municipal solid waste found in Europe. The e †ect of mixing on the product yield and composition was examined. The results showed that the polymers studied did not react independently, but some interaction between samples was observed. The product yield for the mixture of plastics at 700¡C was 9É63% gas, 75É11% oil, 2É87% char and 2É31% HCl. The gases identiÐed were H 2

, and CO. The composition of oils were determined using Fourier C 4 H 10 , CO 2 Transform infra-red spectrometry and size exclusion chromatography. Analysis showed the presence mainly of aliphatic compounds with small amounts of aromatic compounds.