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Friederici, L.* ; Schneider, E.* ; Burnens, G.* ; Streibel, T. ; Giusti, P.* ; Rüger, C.P.* ; Zimmermann, R.

Comprehensive chemical description of pyrolysis chars from low-density polyethylene by thermal analysis hyphenated to different mass spectrometric approaches.

Energy Fuels 35, 18185-18193 (2021)
Postprint DOI
Open Access Green
In the last decades, the production and demand of plastics has drastically increased, with severe environmental impact. Concerning climate change and the idea of a circular economy, waste incineration is not favored and efficient recycling strategies are needed. As one of the most promising approaches, pyrolysis generates a certain amount of solid residue besides liquid and gaseous products. The chemical nature of this char is not fully understood but holds the potential to be used in material science or to generate further chemicals. To explore the value of this feedstock, thermal analysis with mass spectrometric detection of the evolved gas mixture is deployed. With the help of soft photoionization techniques, we were able to identify alkenes, dienes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which were emitted at four distinct mass loss events. Here, resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization allows selectively addressing of the aromatic constituents, whereas single-photon ionization covered a comprehensive chemical range. Interestingly, we found an enrichment of ultraviolet stabilizers, such as benzophenone, within the macromolecular nature of the residue. The evolved gas mixture was found to be highly complex. Consequently, high-resolution mass spectrometry addressing the isobaric complexity and pyrolysis gas chromatography was used for structural elucidation. We hypothesize island- and archipelago-type structural motives comparable to asphaltenes but with almost no heteroatoms based on analyzing the complex mixture by carbon number versus double bond equivalent cartographies. A comprehensive set of thermal analysis mass spectrometric platforms enabled an in-depth chemical description of plastic pyrolysis char, providing valuable knowledge for reactor design and material science.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords Polycyclic Aromatic-hydrocarbons; Photon Ionization; Plastic Wastes; Uv-absorbers; Gas; Degradation; Polypropylene; Combination; Energy; Oils
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0887-0624
e-ISSN 1520-5029
Journal Energy & Fuels
Quellenangaben Volume: 35, Issue: 22, Pages: 18185-18193 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher American Chemical Society (ACS)
Publishing Place 1155 16th St, Nw, Washington, Dc 20036 Usa
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Grants German Research Foundation (DFG)
Horizon 2020 program