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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/NMsB/06
Investigation of catalytic degradation of municipal waste expanded polystyrene using
Cu, CuO and CuCl₂ catalysts

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Adnan* 1,2,1 Jasmin Shah , Muhammad Rasul Jan , Farah Muhammad Zada , Sara Begum
1 Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Swat, Swat 19130, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Pakistan.
2 Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Correspondence: adnanchem@yahoo.com
Abstract

Catalytic degradation of WEPS was carried out using Cu metal, CuO and CuCl₂ as catalysts.
Catalytic degradation of WEPS was found to produce selective products i.e. low molecular
weight aromatic hydrocarbons with minimum amount of residue, gases and unwanted high
molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbons. Cu and Cu containing catalyst decreased the
activation energy with high activity. Maximum yield of liquid product was 93.93 wt.% with
450 ºC, 30 min reaction time and 1:0.3 polymer to catalyst ratio, maximum liquid products
were 90.27 wt.% and 91.40 wt.% with CuO and CuCl₂ catalyst with 450 ºC, 30 min reaction
time and 1:0.2 polymer to catalyst ratio. Cu metal was found the best catalyst among the used
catalysts with liquid products yield of 93.93 wt.%, styrene selectivity of 55.14 wt.% and styrene
monomer recovery of 60 wt.%.

Keywords: Polystyrene (PS); catalyst; degradation; fractional distillation.

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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