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Effect of marine ambient in the production of pollutants from the pyrolysis and combustion of a mixture of plastic materials
Summary
Scientists soaked common plastics (like those in bottles and packaging) in seawater for a year to see if ocean exposure makes them release more toxic chemicals when burned. The good news: even after a year in the ocean, burning these plastics didn't produce meaningfully higher levels of dangerous compounds like dioxins and PCBs, the toxic byproduct levels stayed very low regardless of saltwater exposure. This matters because it suggests that ocean plastic waste, if later incinerated (say, after being collected from beach cleanups), doesn't pose a dramatically higher pollution risk than burning fresh plast
A mixture of polyethylene (PE), polyethylene-terephtalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) and Nylon was submerged in marine water during 12 moths. The chlorine content of these plastics was measured through the passing time. Thermobalance was used to look for differences in the thermal decomposition of the plastics during in that time interval. Degradation of PET, PP and Nylon produced changes in the weight loss curve, but behaviour of PE is confusing. Pyrolysis and combustion at 850 °C was finally performed to get knowledge of the possible differences in the emission of main gases, volatiles and semivolatiles including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated benzenes (ClBzs), polychlorinated phenols (ClPhs), polybrominated phenols (BrPhs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). Results show that the emission of chlorinated species is somewhat not affected by the chlorine content of the plastics mix. The production of PCBs and PCDD/Fs was very low, under 4 pg WHO-TEQ/g.