Vacuum
pyrolysis has been widely used to decompose plastic wastes for obtaining
purity chemicals or remove hazardous organic pollutants. The pyrolysis
temperature determined the variety of pyrolysis products. The final
(highest) temperature was the most investigated factor. However, temperatures
used in vacuum pyrolysis were not equally distributed. The lowest
temperature also determined the variety of the products. Regrettably,
this vital factor has not been researched and reported. In this paper,
the heat transfer process of vacuum pyrolysis was fully analyzed.
The models for computing the lowest temperature were constructed.
The models were certified by the vacuum pyrolysis of novolac epoxy
particles collected from crushed waste printed circuit boards. According
to the models, we found the heat transfer coefficient of the crucible
and the inner diameters of the crucible and alundum tube were the
key factors for controlling the lowest temperature. The models can
help us to modify and adjust the lowest and highest (final) temperatures
in vacuum pyrolysis. This contributed to recovering pure chemicals
or removing pollutants from plastic wastes by vacuum pyrolysis.
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