Radiation-Thermal Degradation of Waste Plastics

Abstract

The combination of dry distillation with irradiation with accelerated electrons can serve as a productive method for the conversion of waste plastics and their mixtures with cellulose wastes into liquid organic products. It was found that, on the combined distillation, plastics were mainly converted into soft wax and organic liquid. In turn, the lignocellulose fraction of mixed wastes was converted into furans (which can serve as raw materials for the subsequent synthesis of “green” plastics) and, in part, into phenolic inhibitors of reverse polymerization. The combined distillation is characterized by a lower yield of unsaturated and gaseous products, and it takes place at lower temperatures.