Bulletin of The Japan Petroleum Institute
Print ISSN : 0582-4656
Studies on Thermal Degradation of Synthetic Polymers (Part 10)
Thermal Gasification of Polyolefins

ジャーナル フリー

1977 年 19 巻 2 号 p. 124-130

Thermal gasification of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyisobutylene (PIB) was carried out under atmospheric pressure using the flow system of a fixed bed reactor. From an experimental equation, IF=Tθa, product yields were estimated, where IF is the intensity function (°C•seca), T is the reaction temperature (°C), θ is the residence time (sec), and a is a constant (-). The effect of the structure of polyolefin on the value of "a" was also discussed.
The pyrolysts conditions used in this study were as follows: temperature, 500∼800°C; the residence time, 0.6∼7.1sec; and the dilution ratio of steam to polymer by weight, 0.6∼7.5.
The operating factors were inferred to be reaction temperature and residence time. For a given product yield, these two factors were interchangeable. Equations for yielding methane were expressed as_follows: (PE): IF=Tθ0.04, (PP); IF=Tθ0.05, (PIB); IF=Tθ0.07.
As IF was correlated to the product yield, the product yield could be predicted by some appropriate choice of pyrolysis conditions. The value of "a" of a polyolefin was correlated to the activation energy (ΔE) for thermal degradation and to temperature (T1/2) corresponding to 50% weight loss. These two parameters were determined from the TG curve.