A Study on Expanded Polystyrene Solid Waste Management for Value-Added Products

Expanded waste polystyrene (EPS) has a wide range of applications due to its polymeric structure. This in turn raises environmental and health concerns since their properties prolong degradation thus causing the material to accumulate in nature. Energy recovery is feasible using chemical recycling processes due to conventional petroleum fractions and high carbon content in the material. The material is voluminous, causing waste management problems as the material occupies large volumes for a small mass. The investigation aimed to study the pyrolysis parameters that can be used to extract value-added products from voluminous EPS waste. From dissolution, triphenylamine which is less voluminous was derived from the waste EPS. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed for both the triphenylamine, and EPS samples, and the materials showed results of being thermally stable. The pyrolysis parameters were found to have an onset temperature of 400°C, peak degradation temperature of 420°C, and an end set Temperature of 432°C.