RECYCLED PLASTICS IN FCC FEEDSTOCKS - SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS

Following a tertiary recycling option for plastics focused on the FCC process, styrene-based polymers were dissolved in benzene and injected over fresh and equilibrium samples of a commercial FCC catalyst. Reac tion times were up to 12 s in a discontinuous fluidized bed reactor at 550 degrees C. The major reaction products were ethylbenzene, benzene , toluene, and styrene, and the production of coke was very significan t, A reaction mechanism which includes polymer thermal cracking, surfa ce oligomerization of styrene molecules, and further cracking, in para llel to hydrogen-transfer reactions, was delineated based on the compa rison of the catalytic behaviors of the different samples. Increases i n the yields of ethylbenzene, styrene, and coke are predictable for th e industrial conditions.