Catalytic Pyrolysis of General Purpose Poly Styrene Using Red Mud as a Catalyst

In this work, the influence of red mud in the pyrolysis of general purpose polystyrene(gpps) has been studied. the catalytic pyrolysis experiments were carried out using anunstirred semi-batch stainless steel 6.28 liter reactor under nitrogen atmosphere (airfree) with red mud as a catalyst. the reaction effluents (oil and gases) were condensedin water-cooled condenser. the condensate was weighted to determine the total yield.gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (gc-ms) analysis was used to characterizethe condensed liquid organic compounds. according to the gc-ms results, styrene,benzene and its derivatives, toluene, naphthalene and a small amount of the otherhydrocarbon compounds were identified in condensate liquid. density, specific gravity,api gravity, kinematics and dynamic viscosity, flash point, fire point, cloud point andpour point of condensate were also measured. under optimum reaction condition, theyield of pyrolysis reaction was above 90%. the air free reaction condition showed goodcatalytic pyrolysis of polystyrene with less than 1% coke formation and above 90%selectivity towards formation of aromatic compounds. the specifications of condensate,i.e. density, api gravity, viscosity and flash point observed showed that the liquidobtained can safely be classed as a kerosene. the specific gravity value was close to thespecific gravity value of diesel.