Reaction Kinetics and Catalysis Letters, Vol.81, No.1, 73-81, 2004
Catalytic degradation of mixed plastics using natural clinoptilolite catalyst
Catalytic degradation of the mixture of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) was investigated in a semi-batch reactor. The main degradation product was liquid oil with gasoline range carbon number distributions. Clinoptilolite, a natural zeolite (HNZ) showed as good a catalytic performance as silica-alumina (SA). The protonated catalysts (HNZ, HZSM-5) showed an increased production of ethylbenzene, but a decrease of styrene production. Increase of degradation temperature resulted in a decrease of ethylbenzene and propylbenzene, but an increase of styrene. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that the increased degradation rate in the mixed plastics came from the intermolecular carbenium ion transfer between the degraded fragments of PE, PP, and PS.