Thermal Destruction of Polypropylene, Polystyrene, Polyethylene, and Polyvinyl Chloride

THERMAL DESTRUCTION OF POLYPROPYLENE, POLYSTYRENE, POLYETHYLENE, AND POLYVINYL CHLORIDE 

Even though the incineration is only a small fraction for the waste disposal, it is a permanent disposal option (less the enviromnental issues). Among the reasons that incineration is not widely accepted is that the public is rather sensitive to 

The mass evolution of these samples was determined as a function of temperature. The fractional reaction, defined as a = (mo — m)/(mo — m/) (reaction progress) [49], was therefore plotted versus sample temperature. TGA has been extensively used to determine the devolatilization characteristics and to determine kinetic parameters [50, 51]. It is to be noted that these ideal conditions as well as some simpUlying assumptions [49, 52] made here may not necessarily correspond to the actual thermal chemical decomposition of the materials. Nevertheless the data provides useful comparison of reaction parameters such as temperature and heating rate. 

Detenmination of the Arrhenius Parameters The Arrhenius parameters (A and E) for the thermal decomposition of the sample [52-54] were determined assuming a first-order chemical reaction (n = 1). The rate constant is defined as  

This equation defines the temperature dependence of the specific rate constant. A second equation that relates the reaction progress to time through the rate constant is also required  

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