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Effect of Microstructure of High Density Polyethylene on Catalytic Degradation: A Comparison Between Nano Clay and FCC

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Abstract

The effect of microstructure of high density polyethylene (HDPE) on catalytic degradation over fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst and Nano clay is investigated. An ethylene/1-hexene copolymer (HDPE) was fractionated based on 1-hexene content to different fractions using preparative temperature rising elution fractionation (P-TREF) method. The short chain branch (SCB) content of each fraction calculated based on 1H NMR results. The homogenous SCB content fractions were subsequently analyzed using TGA and thermal degradation behavior of samples were compared with catalytic degradation. The results showed that FCC, in contrast to nano clay, is more sensitive to microstructure of HDPE during catalytic degradation. Therefore, linear chains can start degradation sooner on FCC than the branched chains. In comparison of nano clay and FCC it was found that the nano clay, reduces temperature at maximum degradation rate (Tmax), but FCC reduces the T5% and Tmax significantly.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Christian Scheffler and Dr. Regine Boldt from Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung (IPF) Dresden e.V. (Germany) for thermal analysis and morphological measurements and discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, 14965-115, Tehran, Iran

    Abbas Kebritchi, Mehdi Nekoomansh, Fereidoon Mohammadi & Hossein Ali Khonakdar

  2. Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V., 01069, Dresden, Germany

    Abbas Kebritchi & Hossein Ali Khonakdar

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  1. Abbas Kebritchi
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  4. Hossein Ali Khonakdar
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Correspondence to Abbas Kebritchi.

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Kebritchi, A., Nekoomansh, M., Mohammadi, F. et al. Effect of Microstructure of High Density Polyethylene on Catalytic Degradation: A Comparison Between Nano Clay and FCC. J Polym Environ 26, 1540–1549 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-017-1053-y

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