Objective
To develop a process that converts a large amount of polyethylene (P.E.)foil used in agriculture for greenhouses and low height tunnel, construction and other P.E.wastes into a wax which is a high grade reusable product.
The research investigates the possibilities of converting polyethylene (PE) waste into PE wax by pyrolysis (thermal decomposition). PE wax is a product which is presently used for various applications such as polishes, printing ink and colour concentrates. The research focuses on residues from agricultural foil used for greenhouses and low tunnels. These agricultural foils are produced by Plasticka Kritis. It was possible to obtain high quality waxes in the stirred tank reactor, starting from pure PE. The characteristics of the waxes can be adjusted within a wide range by changing reactor operating conditions. These waxes are comparable to standard commercial waxes.
When using agricultural foil, produced by Plasticka Kritis, a coloured product is obtained. This is a problem for certain applications where colour is important. The colouration the wax is caused by the presence nickel quencher, an additive used as a stabilizer. Experiments with other, newer types of stabilizers gave better optical results.
The waxes produced in the fluidized bed reactor are lighter than the ones produced in the stirred tank reactor. This is probably caused by the specific reaction conditions, temperatures, necessary for this process. In this system different types of waxes are produced depending on the wax collection procedure.
The market study and technicoeconomical evaluation of the product indicates that the PE wax market is relatively new and rapidly expanding. The wax produced in the process can be used for various applications. In the case of wax produced from films containing nickel quencher some restrictions have to be made because of the colour of the product.
The P.E. waste is converted by medium temperature pyrolysis into a wax with potential applications as a polish, lubricant.
WORK PROGRAMME
The research will consist of:
An experimental study of the pyrolysis of PE;
Characterization of the products;
A market study and preliminary economic evaluation.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
Polyethylene will be pyrolysed in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) unit. The experimental setup consists of:
Feeding system:molten PE will be fed with a pump into the reactor.
Reactor : CSTR with provisions for feeding and product removal.
The effect of the following parameters on the properties will be studied:
Reactor temperature;
Residence time of the gas;
Capacity;
(eventually) presence of a catalyst.
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PRODUCTS
The following parameters are useful for comparison of the obtained wax commercial equivalents:
Molecular weight and molecular weight distribution: determined by gas chromatography(GC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
Melting point/range
Viscosity
Hardness
Market study and economic evaluation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering tribology lubrication
- engineering and technology materials engineering colors
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- natural sciences chemical sciences analytical chemistry calorimetry
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
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Coordinator
3000 Leuven
Belgium
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