Effect of metal oxides on the evolution of aromatic hydrocarbons in the thermal decomposition of PVC

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Abstract
The thermal decomposition of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) mixed with several metal oxides was investigated by direct pyrolysis in a mass spectrometer (MS) and flash pyrolysis–gas chromatography. Our results show that the thermal decomposition of PVC occurs in two stages. Unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, naphthalene, and anthracene) are evolved mainly in the first stage, alkyl‐aromatics (e.g., toluene) in the second. Although the addition of some metal oxides results in an overall suppression of aromatic hydrocarbons, the unsubstituted aromatics are much more suppressed with respect to alkyl‐aromatics. Furthermore, the formation of ZnCl2 and SnCl4 was revealed by the mass spectra of PVC–metal oxide pyrolysates. This suggests that, at least in these two cases, metal chlorides are responsible for aromatic hydrocarbon suppression. With this information a detailed reaction mechanism could be formulated for the thermal degradation of PVC.

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