Pyrolysis characteristics of glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) under isothermal conditions

• The basic data for GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastics) pyrolysis were reported.
• The kinetic parameter was determined in isothermal conditions.
• A syngas composition was analyzed varying temperature and residence time.
• The structural variations in the GFRP char were observed.
• The results are useful for the GFRP pyrolysis and gasification processes.

The pyrolysis characteristics of GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastic) were determined under isothermal conditions at 500–1000 °C using a thermo-balance reactor (TBR) and wire mesh reactor (WMR). The kinetics parameters for the GFRP were derived using the activation energy, of 28.17 kJ mol−1, of frequency factor, 2.12 s−1, and reaction order, of 0.48–0.8. The structural variations in the GFRP char were determined using BET, SEM, and FT-IR techniques. Organic compounds and polymers were decomposed with increasing temperature. The experimental results showed that increasing the temperature and reaction time favored polymer scission at temperature of 600–1000 °C with residence time of 2–10 s.