Extraction of chemical components from polymer composites waste

• Main Authors: Protsenko, A., Lyukho, I., Petrov, V.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Benzene; Cetane number; Chemical technology; Diesel fuels; Greenhouse gases; Low temperature; Polymer matrix composites; Polymers; Pyrolysis; Temperature dependence; Thermal analysis; Toluene
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0169381

Modern rates of production and consumption of the polymer industry products annually generate an increasing amount of hard-to-recycle polymer waste. The most well-known method for the disposal of polymer production and MSW waste is incineration and landfilling. These methods put a heavy burden on the environment while the greenhouse gases emitted, and toxic decomposition products pollute the surrounding areas. This research work studies the process of recycling waste polymer composites by the method of low-temperature pyrolysis. Thermal analysis helped to select the temperature limits of the experiment and the optimal temperature mode for the pyrolysis process. The quantitative and qualitative composition of pyrolysis products was established. Further, the authors obtained the temperature dependence which made it possible to get a different amount of target components. During thermal destruction at the temperature of 500 °C, a wide range of products valuable for the chemical technology was obtained. In relation to other temperature modes the content of benzene increased by 21.25% while the toluene content decreased by 11.35%. The pyrolysis liquid was further purified from acidic compounds by adding a double volume of the 17% NaOH solution. The purified pyrolysis liquid was added into diesel fuel in various ratios. The effect of the obtained products on the cetane number of diesel fuel was studied. It was established that 1% pyrolysis liquid added to 100 ml of diesel fuel increases its cetane number by approximately 2.7 units.