Thermal destruction cellulose

The organic portion of solid wastes has a carbon-hydrogen-oxygen ratio similar to that of cellulose (CeHioOsln, a polymer that is widely present in nature [21, 25, 26, 30]. It is therefore expected that the thermal destruction behavior of cellulose will provide useful information on the organic portion of the solid waste. A pyrolysis process can be represented as ... 

Experimental and theoretical studies are presented from a laboratory-scale thermal destruction facility on the destructive behavior of surrogate plastic and nonplastic solid wastes. The nonplastic waste was cellulosic while the plastic waste contained compounds such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polypropylene, nylon, rubber, and polyurethane or any of their desired mixtures. A series of combustion tests was performed with samples containing varying composition of plastic and nonplastic. Experimental results are presented on combustion parameters (CO, excess air, residence time) and toxic emissions (dioxin, furan, metals). 

Interaction of Chain Destruction and Cross-linking in Thermal and Thermohydrolytic Degradation of Cellulose. Starting points of these investigations were the statement of a thermal level-off-DP by Golova and Krylova (10) and observations of our own (8) of an increase... 

Early interest in the thermal degradation of cellulose was stimulated by lively academic discussions about the origin of bituminous coal — whether it is derived from the lignin or carbohydrate constituents of wood. This subject was also investigated in an attempt to determine the significance of cellulose in commercial destructive distillation of wood and its contribution to the mixture of degradation products. 

Extensive kinetic investigations have also indicated that the activation energy of the overall thermal-decomposition process is substantially lowered by the addition of sodium chloride and sodium carbonate. Madorsky and coworkers have, therefore, proposed that these salts catalyze the dehydration of cellulose by scission of the C —O bonds (bonds a, b, and c in 1 see p. 438), and that this results in destruction of the hexose units and increases the yield of water and char at the expense of levoglucosan. This theory has found substantial support in subsequent experiments and publications however, it may be noted here that Golova and associates" consider that inorganic salts promote the cleavage of C—C, rather than C—O, bonds in the macromolecule. 

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