Model-free kinetic analysis for co-pyrolysis of mixed plastic polymers with oil palm fiber

Abstract

Pure commercial high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) samples from a petrochemical plant in Malaysia have been mixed and non-isothermally co-pyrolyzed with oil palm fiber (OPF) biomass using thermogravimetric analyzer. The samples were subjected a temperature between 30 °C and 850 °C under non-isothermal conditions at different heating speed of 5, 10 and 15 degC.min-1. The TGA data was fitted to selected model-free models and Avrami theory in order to estimate the activation energy and reaction order respectively. Based on the results, the respective activation energy for Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) model were 216.45 kJ.mol-1 and 229.40 kJ.mol-1. The co-pyrolysis process kinetic can be characterized by a first-order decomposition reaction.