Study on pyrolysis characteristics of refuse plastic fuel using lab-scale tube furnace and thermogravimetric analysis reactor

Product yields of liquid, solid, and gas were obtained from pyrolysis experiments on RPF using a tube furnace in a nitrogen atmosphere under three non-isothermal conditions (maximum temperature: 400 °C, 600 °C, and 800 °C). And, the effect of the temperature on the product yields of liquid, solid, and gas were discussed. The gas compositions and liquid compounds were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography mass spectrum detector (GC–MSD), respectively. Using a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) reactor, thermal decomposition characteristics of PS, PVC, LDPE, and PP as well as RPF during pyrolysis were analyzed. Using the single reaction model, the activation energy and pre-exponential factor for RPF pyrolysis were 211.11 kJ/mol and 9.04E+13 l/min, respectively. Using the parallel reaction model, the activation energies of PS, PP, LDPE, PVC{1}, and PVC{2} (subscripts {1} and {2} refer to the first and second degradation of PVC in mass) were 231.83, 193.55, 175.92, 72.26, and 164.94 kJ/mol, respectively, and their pre-exponential factors were 2.27E+17, 4.49E+13, 7.09E+11, 1.24E+06 and 2.16E+11 l/min, respectively.