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Michigan Technological University

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 2

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Dissolution kinetics

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Increasing The Dissolution Rate Of Polystyrene Waste In Solvent-Based Recycling, Rita Kol, Ruben Denolf, Gwendoline Bernaert, Dave Manhaeghe, Ezra Bar Ziv, George W. Huber, Norbert Niessner, Michiel Verswyvel, Angeliki Lemonidou, Dimitris S. Achilias, Steven De Meester Mar 2024

Increasing The Dissolution Rate Of Polystyrene Waste In Solvent-Based Recycling, Rita Kol, Ruben Denolf, Gwendoline Bernaert, Dave Manhaeghe, Ezra Bar Ziv, George W. Huber, Norbert Niessner, Michiel Verswyvel, Angeliki Lemonidou, Dimitris S. Achilias, Steven De Meester

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 2

Solvent-based recycling of plastic waste is a promising approach for cleaning polymer chains without breaking them. However, the time required to actually dissolve the polymer in a lab environment can take hours. Different factors play a role in polymer dissolution, including temperature, turbulence, and solvent properties. This work provides insights into bottlenecks and opportunities to increase the dissolution rate of polystyrene in solvents. The paper starts with a broad solvent screening in which the dissolution times are compared. Based on the experimental results, a multiple regression model is constructed, which shows that within several solvent properties, the viscosity of the …