Polypropylene pyrolysis kinetics under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Abstract The kinetics of polypropylene pyrolysis has been studied under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions using Arrhenius and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) equations. Under isothermal conditions, applying first order kinetic model, activation energy (Ea) and pre-exponential factor (A) were investigated and observed as 119.7 kJ mol−1 and 1.2 × 1010 min−1, while in case of non-isothermal kinetics using Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose method, the average Ea and A were found to be 91.23 kJ mol−1 and 2.3 × 107 min−1, respectively. A comparison among the isothermal and non-isothermal reactions was made on the basis of kinetics parameters. The results from both the methods showed trivial variation in kinetic parameters of the pyrolysis reaction which may be due to two major reasons. Firstly, the selection of the kinetic model applied and secondly the inconsistency due to various experimental conditions used which can be reduced at optimized conditions. As the disposal of plastic materials need reliable kinetics information to model their decomposition reactions, therefore, the kinetics data thus obtained from pyrolysis reaction of model polypropylene will help in the utilization of polypropylene waste as energy source on industrial scale.