Study of the catalytic pyrolysis behaviour of polyethylene-polypropylene mixtures

In the present work, a thermogravimetric study of the influence of different catalysts on the decomposition of HDPE and PP mixtures has been carried out and compared with the thermal decomposition behaviour. In the absence of catalyst, the mixtures exhibit an overlapping of the processes of decomposition of both polymers. The catalysts employed (HZSM5, a fluid catalytic cracking zeolite and HUSY) modify in a different way the catalytic cracking of HDPE and PP. The FCC catalyst is the system yielding the maximum separation of the decomposition processes under the conditions studied.