THERMAL DEGRADATION CHARACTERISTICS OF POST-CONSUMER PET MIXED WITH WOOD WASTES

M. KIM; J. GONZALEZ; E. BUONOMO; P. BONELLI; A. L. CUKIERMAN

SOCHI , FEDERACION RUSA

Congreso; Eighth Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Combustion and Energy Utilization; 2006

RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, COMBUSTION INSTITUTE USA

Thermal degradation of blends composed by poplar sawdust and poly(ethylene terephtalate) (PET) bottle residues in equal proportions is comparatively investigated with respect to their individual components. Experiments in a bench-scale installation operating in inert atmosphere and at temperatures comprised between 400 °C and 600 ºC are conducted to examine conversion and solid product characteristics. The presence of PET wastes in the blends is found to reduce formation of the residual solid product (char), consequently favoring generation of gaseous and/or condensable volatile products. The trend is more pronounced as pyrolysis temperature increases, owing to the growing release of volatile matter, as evidenced from chemical characterization of the resulting chars. Textural characterization of the latter also points to a pronounced development of porosity for the char arising from the blend at 500ºC, suggesting its potential use as an adsorbent. On the other hand, kinetic characterization of the thermal degradation of the blend of both residues and individual components under inert atmosphere is carried out from non-isothermal thermogravimetric measurements and modelling of the experimental data.