MULTIDIMENSIONAL CHROMATOGRAPHY/MASS SPECTROMETRY: A TOOL FOR ANALYSIS OF OIL PRODUCTS FROM PYROLYSIS OF POLYETHYLENE-POLYSTYRENE MIXTURES

Abstract

The total hydrocarbon distribution of oil products from the pyrolysis of 4 mixtures of polyethylene-polystyrene waste has been studied by multidimensional chromatography (high performance liquid chromatography followed by capillary gas chromatography)/mass spectrometry. Saturated, unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons in oil products were selectively pre-separated according to structural groups by HPLC and the weight fraction of each group was estimated by analyzing each component by GC-FID response factors. The hydrocarbon distribution of the aliphatic fraction consists of C5 to C25 saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons and that of the aromatic fraction consists of benzene, toluene, xylene, styrene, propenyl benzene, naphthalene and some of their derivatives. Pyrolysis temperature does not affect the ratio of total wt. fraction of aliphatic over aromatic hydrocarbon distribution in the case of PS alone and PE-PS mixture (1:4 wt. ratio) as a feed but does affect the ratio of total wt. fraction in the case of PE alone and PE-PS mixture(1:1 wt. ratio).