Influence of Molecular Characteristics and Size Effects in Polystyrene Pyrolysis

Abstract

Understanding the structure‐property‐process relationships in pyrolysis‐based recycling of polymers offers new possibilities, like, energy‐efficient process designs and tailored products. With the consideration of sample size as well as thermal rate effects, the influence of the molecular weight distribution of polystyrene on the pyrolysis kinetics is investigated. It is shown that molecular weight distribution significantly impacts pyrolysis kinetics. Thermal rate and sample weight affect the material conversion rate and are decisive for determining the thermal processing window.

Modelling Binder Degradation in the Thermal Treatment of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by Coupling Discrete Element Method and Isoconversional Kinetics

“…The developed model framework is applied to an artificial but representative BM composition, utilizing kinetic data for the binder PVDF obtained from TGA measurements and applied to the Specific RBMM (sRBMM), where catalytic reactions are not considered. Additionally, the model allows the analysis of sample size effects in TG measurements, which is generally an important issue in TGA measurements (Zimmermann et al [48]) and could be applied in this context in the future for different specific black mass compositions. Additionally, degradation simulations are carried out with two different RBMM particle sizes and various heating rates to examine the relationship between the scaling factor and the heating rate in a quasi-resting BM system.…”