A Study on Treatments of Waste Fire Retardant Plastics

—A Comparison of the Gas-fired Incineration Method and Wet Oxidation-method—

Abstract

In order to develop a treatment for waste fire retardant plastics which contain bromine flame retardant, conservative gas-fired incineration and wet oxidation tests were conducted, focusing on the behaviour of flame retardant and Antimony trioxide.
In the case of the gas-fired method, decomposition products such as hydrogen bromide and aromatic bromine compound were detected. About 80 wt.% of trioxide Antimony in the sample was discharged to the gas outlet of the incinerator. This result demonstrated the possibility of discharging Antimony compounds into the environment.
On the other hand, antimony compounds were confirmed to be left in the autoclave in wet oxidation. Depending on the molecular structure of the flame retardant, different yields of the decomposition were shown.