Decomposition of polyethylene using argon based radio-frequency steam plasma

Abstract

The feasibility of the decomposition of polyethylene (PE) process using argon based steam plasma generated by RF discharge was examined. Analysis using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was applied to the decomposition process and gas chromatography/mass selective detector (GC/MS) to the by-products of the plasma treatment. The carbon species CN, CH, and CO were present during the decomposition in this study. If we use these carbon species to calculate the decomposition time, results showed a small additional amount of argon gas (3 sccm) can decrease the processing time of decomposition from 36 min to 19 min. The highest concentration of acetone in the by-products was 6.23% when the chamber pressure, the argon flow and the RF power were set at 3 torr, 3 sccm, and 350 W respectively. The results confirmed that the decomposing of polyethylene powder with argon based steam plasma was successful and the acetone in the by-products could be controlled by choosing different experiment parameters.