Renewable Aromatics from the Degradation of Polystyrene under Mild Conditions
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Nouf AlJabri's PhD thesis 03 10 2017.pdf
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Nouf AlJabru - Final Dissertation Paper
Type
DissertationAuthors
Al Jabri, Nouf M.
Advisors
Huang, Kuo-Wei
Committee members
Lai, Zhiping
Hadjichristidis, Nikos

Han, Yu

Rode. C.V
KAUST Department
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) DivisionDate
2017-08Embargo End Date
2018-12-31Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/625826
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At the time of archiving, the student author of this dissertation opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this dissertation became available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2018-12-31.Abstract
Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most important polymers in the plastic sector due to its inexpensive cost as well as many preferred properties. Its international market is expected to achieve $28.2 billion by 2019. Although PS has a high calorific value of 87 GJ tonne-1, there is no a practical method to manage its waste but landfill. As a result, the PS debris in the oceans has reached 70% of the total plastic debris. This issue is considered as the main economical and environmental drivers of converting polystyrene waste into renewable chemical feedstocks. The aim of this work is to develop a catalyst for converting PS into renewable chemicals under mild conditions. We introduce FeCu/Alumina with excellent catalytic activity to fully degrade polystyrene with 66% liquid yield at 250 °C. The GC/MS confirmed that the primary products are in the gasoline range. Next, we present the bimetallic FeCo/Alumina and successfully we have obtained 100% PS conversion and 90% liquid yield with maintaining the products selectivity. Later, the tri-metallic FeCuCo/Alumina was synthesized and showed 100% PS conversion and 91% liquid yield. Surprisingly, ethylbenzene was the major product in which 80 wt. % was achieved with excellent reproducibility. Furthermore, the real waste Styrofoam was thermally and catalytically degraded at 250 °C. Interestingly, a high styrene content of 78 wt. % was recovered after 30 minutes of the reaction under mild conditions. Keeping in mind that a good balance between acidity and basicity is required to convert PS into aromatic under mild reaction conditions catalytically. Finally, the performance of the catalysts was compared to literature reports and showed novel liquid yields. In conclusion, we have synthesized cheap, easy to scale up, and efficient catalysts to fully degrade PS into high liquid yields of aromatics with excellent selectivity.Citation
Al Jabri, N. M. (2017). Renewable Aromatics from the Degradation of Polystyrene under Mild Conditions. KAUST Research Repository. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-P152Oae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.25781/KAUST-P152O