Thermal and Catalytic Degradation of Poly(vinyl chloride)

Effects of heating rates and catalysts on thermal and catalytic degradation of poly (vinyl chloride)have been investigated. Heating rates for the dehydrochlorination stage had little effects on the product oil characteristics, whereas heating rates in the later pyrolysis stage of polyene had strong effects. Slow heating rate for the pyrolysis provided less total oil yield but more yield for low molecular weight component. By using catalysts in the pyrolysis of polyene, BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) and naphthalene yield had remarkably increased, although total oil yield had decreased. HZSM5 was the best catalyst in this experiments and the maximum BTX and naphthalene yield was about 7 % based on the polyene.