ANALYSIS OF VOLATILES ASSOCIATED WITH INDUSTRIAL-SCALE PROCESSING OF EXPANDED POLYSTYRENE .2. IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTITATION

Expanded polystyrene was pyrolyzed on a laboratory scale hot wire cutt er. The resulting volatiles were characterized using GC/MS as the prim ary analytical tool. Use was also made of retention data from a comple x petrochemical standard. In situ bromination of the pyrolysate furthe r helped in structure elucidation. Air samples were collected in the f ield and compared to the model experiments from a laboratory scale hot wire cutter. The results indicate that alkylbenzene type compounds we re the primary compounds in this environment. A few oxygenated substan ces were also formed. Traces of brominated compounds were detected in the model experiments but not in the samples collected in the field, w ith one exception. Quantitative data are presented from a typical indu strial operation.