Thermal degradation of polystyrene by Lewis acids in solution

Karmore, Vishal and Madras, Giridhar (2002) Thermal degradation of polystyrene by Lewis acids in solution. In: Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 41 (4). pp. 657-660.

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Abstract

The degradation of polystyrene in various Lewis acids [aluminum chloride, ferric chloride, borontriflouride etherate, and tin(IV) chloride] at different temperatures (75-125 degreesC) has been studied in this work. The evolution of the molecular weight distribution (MWD) has been modeled using continuous distribution kinetics with a stoichiometric kernel for random chain scission. The degradation rate was the highest in the presence of aluminum chloride. The reactions were also carried out at different aluminum chloride concentrations, and the degradation rate was proportional to the fourth power of the Lewis acid concentration. The activation energy of polystyrene degradation in the presence of aluminum chloride, determined from the temperature dependence of the degradation rate coefficient, was 7.7 kcal/mol.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Chemical Society.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Chemical Engineering
Date Deposited:	23 Nov 2009 08:30
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:24
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/18658

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