Thermal Pyrolysis of Polyethylene: Kinetic Study

Abstract

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to measure the kinetic parameters of high density polyethylene in different operating conditions i.e. heating rate and nitrogen flow rate in a non isothermal condition. The Coats-Redfern method was used to calculate the kinetic parameters. An effort was made to investigate the effect of metal particles on plastic during pyrolysis. The results suggested that aluminum powder accelerates the pyrolysis reaction by enhancing the heat transfer. In addition, the kinetic reaction of pyrolysis was studied using a semi-batch reactor in a nitrogen atmosphere under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. A first-order decomposition reaction was assumed and the rate constant was determined using an integral method. The rate constant was measured at different temperatures and was used to calculate the apparent activation energy and the pre-exponential factor of the reaction in an isothermal condition. Kinetic parameters were measured for individual compounds with carbon numbers ranging from C 9 to C 50 using the semi batch reactor under isothermal condition. Key words : Kinetic; High density polyethylene; Isothermal; Non isothermal; TGA; Semi batch reactor