Incineration of styrene–butadiene rubber: the influence of heating rate and oxygen content on gas products formation

Abstract

This study investigates thermal decomposition of styrene–butadiene rubber under various heating conditions in oxygen–nitrogen atmosphere. The experiments are performed to establish the effects of operating conditions and identify the gas products. The heating rate (2, 5, 10, 20 K/min) and oxygen contain (5%, 10%, 20%) are the main operating parameters. The gas products detected from the reaction tube are CO 2, CO and hydrocarbon. Experimental results indicate that the gas formation involves two stages of reaction when oxygen is presented: the initial reaction temperature decreases, but the reaction range and the reaction rate increase when the heating rate is raised. The presence of oxygen in carrier gas accelerates the decomposition slightly and the reaction rate becomes faster once reaction commences; and reduces the activation energy of volatile products. The hydrocarbon emissions such as styrene, benzene, toluene, propanone, xylene, butane and 4-ethenyl-cyclohexene are the major species. In addition, the formation of hydrocarbon products also involves the free radicals and monomer recombination processes.