CHEMICAL RECOVERY FROM POLYSTYRENE AND LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE VIA CONVENTIONAL PYROLYSIS

Abstract

In Turkey, plastics have formed 5-14 % of total solid wastes. Plastic sources have beenclassified as thermoplastic and thermosets. Thermoplastics which covers Polyethylene(PE), Polystyrene (PS), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) andPolyvinyl chloride (PVC) can be recycled by using mechanical recycling, energy recoveryand chemical recovery routes. Pyrolysis as a chemical recovery technique is important toproduce invaluable chemicals in high yields. In this study, it was aimed to obtainhydrocarbons from PS and Low density Polyethylene (LDPE) via pyrolysis. Product yieldswere calculated and liquid products were analyzed via GC-MS. In the light of the results,it was deduced that 520 ⁰C and 570 ⁰C were the suitable temperatures to obtain the liquidproduct with maximum yields for LDPE and PS respectively. That temperature was foundfor LDPE and PS co-pyrolysis as 570 ⁰C. It was determined that Benzene-Toluene-EthylBenzene (BTE) fraction amount increased from 5 % to 6.4 % with LDPE adding in thefeed for almost same liquid product yields of PS (88%) and LDPE/PS (84 %). In addition,it was obtained the pyrolytic liquid which comprised of wholly alkanes and alkenes forLDPE with 70 % product yield.