Abstract
Recycling carbon fiber from residual carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) is one of the key aspects of the future in the field of waste management. This work presents the possibility of recovering chemical compounds through the thermo-catalytic treatment of the gases and vapors produced from the decomposition of the polymeric resin that takes place in the recycling of CFRP by pyrolysis. A lab-scale installation consisting of two reactors placed in series has been used for the experiments. In the first reactor, pyrolysis of poly(benzoxazine)-based composite waste has been carried out at 500 °C. In the second reactor, the thermo-catalytic treatment of gases and vapors has been performed at 900 °C in the presence of a commercial and a lab-prepared reforming catalyst. The thermal treatment of gases and vapors leads to a significant reduction in the collected liquids and a H2-rich gas fraction. When reforming catalysts are used, the organic fraction of the liquids is virtually eliminated and gas fractions containing more than 50% H2 in volume are generated. The results obtained show that it is possible to valorize the material content of the polymer resin, which represents an important advance in the recycling of CFRP by pyrolysis.
Highlights
The incorporation of carbon fiber reinforced polymers/plastics (CFRP) into the manufacturing of components has been a revolution
The residual CFRP used in this work is an expired pre-impregnated form from the aeronautical industry composed of a poly(benzoxazine) resin and reinforced with Toray T300/3k carbon fibers of 7 μm diameter
If the results of the proximate analysis of the CF are examined, it can be seen that the carbon fibers are almost entirely fixed carbon, which can give an idea of their thermal stability, and in addition, they have neither moisture nor ashes
Summary
The incorporation of carbon fiber reinforced polymers/plastics (CFRP) into the manufacturing of components has been a revolution. Estimates of CF demand calculate that around 60 Mt of this material was consumed in 2015, and according to all predictions, the increase in demand during the decade is a fact, with figures ranging from 140 Mt by 2020 to 175 Mt by 2025 [3,4]. Such spectacular CF consumption estimations suggests a high potential for CFRP waste generation in the future, as CF is used almost exclusively to Catalysts 2018, 8, 523; doi:10.3390/catal8110523 www.mdpi.com/journal/catalysts
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