Perspective on the disposal of PVC artificial leather via pyrolysis: Thermodynamics, kinetics, synergistic effects and reaction mechanism

Abstract

With the massive production and discard of PVC artificial leather, it is urgently needed to find an efficient and environment-friendly method to dispose of this material made from PVC and blended cloth (BC). As a widely accepted way to dispose of municipal solid waste, pyrolysis was chosen for this study. The pyrolysis experiments of PVC, BC, and their mixture were conducted to characterize PVC artificial leather’s pyrolysis behavior and product characteristics. TG-FTIR and kinetics analysis showed the strong synergistic effect between PVC and cellulose in BC occurred at 240 °C – 314 °C, resulting in cellulose dehydration and aromatization. An exceptionally high tar yield of 54.96 wt% was obtained by fast pyrolysis of the mixture at 500 °C. GC–MS analysis of tar proved BC consisted of cellulose, PET, and PA. The high tar yield of co-pyrolysis came from the synergistic effects of PVC on cellulose and PET, both of which formed terephthalic acid, di(2-chloroethyl) ester (TADE). At 500 °C, the tar of the mixture mainly contained TADE (18.72 wt%), terephthalic acid (18.56 wt%), and aromatics (19.04 wt%). The co-pyrolysis interaction mechanism at 500 °C was deduced. Our study could provide theoretical guidance for recycling PVC artificial leather waste.