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Viable Recycling of Polystyrene via Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Pyrolysis

Author

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  • Sogand Musivand

    (Department of Chemical Engineering Materials and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Maria Paola Bracciale

    (Department of Chemical Engineering Materials and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Martina Damizia

    (Department of Chemical Engineering Materials and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Paolo De Filippis

    (Department of Chemical Engineering Materials and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Benedetta de Caprariis

    (Department of Chemical Engineering Materials and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Chemical recycling is considered one of the most sustainable solutions to limit the environmental issues related to plastic waste pollution, whereby plastic is converted into more valuable compounds when mechanical recycling is not feasible. Among the most critical fast-growing components of municipal solid waste, polystyrene represents 1/3 of the filling materials in landfills. In this work, the chemical recycling of polystyrene via two main thermochemical processes is investigated: pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The influence of temperature (HTL: 300–360 °C and pyrolysis: 400–600 °C) and reaction time (HTL: 1–4 h; pyrolysis: 30 min) on the products obtained was studied. The obtained liquid and solid products were analyzed by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), an elemental analysis (EA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). During HTL, a temperature of 360 °C and reaction time of 4 h were needed to completely decompose the polystyrene into mainly oil (83%) and water-soluble compounds (10%). The former was mainly composed of aromatics while the water phase was mainly composed of aromatics and oxygenated compounds (benzaldehyde and acetophenone). The pyrolysis led to the formation of 45% gas and 55% oil at 500 °C, and the oil was 40% styrene. Pyrolysis was thus more selective towards the recovery of the styrene monomer while the HTL can be an effective process to produce renewable aromatics.

Suggested Citation

  • Sogand Musivand & Maria Paola Bracciale & Martina Damizia & Paolo De Filippis & Benedetta de Caprariis, 2023. "Viable Recycling of Polystyrene via Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Pyrolysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:13:p:4917-:d:1178103
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Seshasayee, Mahadevan Subramanya & Savage, Phillip E., 2020. "Oil from plastic via hydrothermal liquefaction: Production and characterization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    2. Park, Ki-Bum & Jeong, Yong-Seong & Guzelciftci, Begum & Kim, Joo-Sik, 2020. "Two-stage pyrolysis of polystyrene: Pyrolysis oil as a source of fuels or benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    3. Williams, Paul T. & Slaney, Edward, 2007. "Analysis of products from the pyrolysis and liquefaction of single plastics and waste plastic mixtures," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 754-769.
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