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Predicting the distribution of thermal pyrolysis of high density polyethylene products using a mechanistic model

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Abstract

The increase of the plastic wastes has urged finding different solutions for their recycling. Thermal pyrolysis is a suitable solution for refining the combination of different plastics. The main goal of this research is developing a model to predict the distribution of products obtained from pyrolysis. To do this a mechanism model based on free radical mechanism is developed. In this model some kinetic stages are used including initiation, scission, abstraction, aromatic making and radical combination. After determining the kinetic constants, the equations were solved in MATLAB software. The results were compared with experimental results from a conical spouted bed reactor (CSBR) in temperature (500–900 °C) and residence time (0.016–0.032 s). the results show that the model can predict the experimental observation for different temperatures and residence time and estimate the amount of low and high density products in a way that the increase of that gas fraction increase and high density products decrease. Also in all the situation the amount of olefin fraction is more than paraffin and diolefin.

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Abbreviations

Arn :

molar flow of n carbon atoms aromatic (mol/m3)

Dn :

molar flow of n carbon atoms diolefin (mol/m3)

Kf :

kinetic constant of H-abstraction reaction (m3/mol s)

Kpp :

kinetic constant of initial scission reaction (s− 1)

Kr :

kinetic constant of H-abstraction reaction (m3/mol s)

Kt :

kinetic constant of termination reaction (m3/mol s)

K1ar :

kinetic constant of production of aromatics 1reaction (m3/mol s)

K2ar :

kinetic constant of production of aromatics 2reaction (m3/mol s)

Kβ :

kinetic constant of β-scission reaction (s− 1)

On :

molar flow of n carbon atoms olefin (mol/m3)

Pn :

molar flow of n carbon atoms paraffin (mol/m3)

riβ :

rate of production of i via β-scission (mol/m3 s)

riArn :

rate of production of i via aromatization (mol/m3 s)

rif :

rate of production of i via H-abstraction (mol/m3 s)

ripp :

rate of production of i via initial scission (mol/m3 s)

rir :

rate of production of i via H-abstraction (mol/m3 s)

rit :

rate of production of i via termination (mol/m3 s)

rj :

rate of production of the j reaction (kg/m3 s)

RDn :

molar flow of n carbon atoms radical diolefin (mol/m3)

ROn :

molar flow of n carbon atoms radical olefin (mol/m3)

RPn :

molar flow of n carbon atoms radical paraffin (mol/m3)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Sajad Fatahmanesh Ghasr

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute (IPPI), Tehran, Iran

    Hossein Abedini

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  1. Sajad Fatahmanesh Ghasr
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  2. Hossein Abedini
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Correspondence to Sajad Fatahmanesh Ghasr.

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Fatahmanesh Ghasr, S., Abedini, H. Predicting the distribution of thermal pyrolysis of high density polyethylene products using a mechanistic model. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 3, 40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-017-0309-9

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