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Expandable polystyrene production and market survey- A review

Egyptian Journal of Chemistry 2023 3 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 35 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
abdallah elgharbawy

Summary

This review examines the production processes and global market for expandable polystyrene (EPS), describing the two main manufacturing approaches — batch processing and the impregnation method — used to produce pre-expanded PS beads. The paper surveys EPS applications in packaging, construction, and insulation and presents data on worldwide polystyrene consumption and market trends.

Polymers

Polystyrene is a hard, solid, and transparent polymer and it is a type of polyolefin used to make a wide variety of consumer products. There are different types of PS which are general-purpose polystyrene (GPPS) and expandable polystyrene (EPS). Polystyrene which has foam properties is called expanded polystyrene (EPS). EPS is a rigid, tough, white, and closed-cell foam that is made of pre-expanded PS beads. EPS is used for disposable trays, plates, bowls, cups, packaging applications, construction, and insulation applications. EPS beads are produced by two basic processes: the batch process and the impregnation method. In this paper, we are going to reveal the different production processes of PS and its global consumption and market.

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