Polyester/styrene copolymer pyrolysis

Thermoset plastics have also been pyrolysed with a view to obtain chemicals for recycling into the petrochemical industry. Pyrolysis of a polyester/styrene copolymer resin composite produced a wax which consisted of 96 wt% of phthalic anhydride and an oil composed of 26 wt% styrene. The phthalic anhydride is used as a modifying agent in polyester resin manufacture and can also be used as a cross-linking agent for epoxy resins. Phthalic anhydride is a characteristic early degradation product of unsaturated thermoset polyesters derived from orf/io-phthalic acid [56, 57]. Kaminsky et al. [9] investigated the pyrolysis of polyester at 768°C in a fiuidized-bed reactor and reported 18.1 wt% conversion to benzene. 

Curie point pyrolysis has been used in microstructure studies on styrene-butadiene, copolymers [12], polyester-containing polyacrylate copolymers [13], vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer [14] and acrylic emulsions [15,16]. 

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