Kinetic modeling and analysis of pyrolysis of polymethyl methacrylate using isoconversional methods

Abstract

Pyrolysis the waste plastic into fuel is a promising way to protect the environment. In this study, we study the thermal decomposition processes of polymer Poly (methyl methacrylate) PMMA. This work used the microscale combustion calorimeter (MCC) as a tool to study the degradation. MCC is an applicable method to calculate the material combustion parameters by using milligram samples. The experiments were carried out at four heating rates 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 K/s. The temperature range in which the pyrolysis reaction occurs is « 300-470 oC. We applied several isoconversional methods such as Friedman, Ozawa, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO), and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) to estimate the apparent activation energy of thermal degradation of Poly(methyl methacrylate). Determine the activation energy from each method evaluated against the experimental data. With investigation, the FWO method shown much higher values for activation energy for PMMA polymer more than the other two methods, and the average value much higher than the Friedman and KAS methods. On the other hand, as a differential method, Friedman showed more accurate results Ea=216.65kJ/mol, and KAS method 228.61 kJ/mol. Our investigation may give a few experiences to how to more readily portray trial results with hypothetical expectations and essential data for calculating the activation energy of potential pyrolysis reactors.