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Combustion behaviors of wasted plastics coated around electric cables in electrically heated drop tube furnaces

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Abstract

For thermal recycle by wasted plastics coated around electric cables, ignition and combustion experiments of the pulverized samples were carried out, using two types of electrically heated drop tube furnace, in which the particles are pulsatively fed and continuously fed, respectively. The ignition phenomenon was defined as occurrence of luminous emission from a cloud of the particles fed in the former furnace. The wasted plastics coated around the electric cables mainly make of polyethylene with a little amount of carbon particles. The ignition characteristics of the pulverized plastic samples as well as graphite particles as a reference sample were studied, changing the particle diameters and the furnace wall temperatures. In the electrically heated drop tube furnace with the continuous feeding system, the wall temperature and stoichiometric combustion air ratio were varied to elucidate the fundamental combustion characteristics. As a result, the ignition temperature depended on the particle diameter. The plastics with the particle diameter ranged from 150 to 300 µm could ignite at the lowest furnace temperature. From the continuous combustion tests, CO and lower molecule hydrocarbons like CH4, C2H2 and C2H4 were produced in the upper region of furnace. Finally, all of them gradually burned out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-7-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8521, Japan

    Yoko Nunome

  2. Department of Ecological Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, 441-8122, Japan

    Hiroshi Matsumoto

  3. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Ivan Nedjalkov & Ryo Yoshiie

  4. Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Yasuaki Ueki & Ichiro Naruse

Authors
  1. Yoko Nunome
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  2. Hiroshi Matsumoto
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  3. Ivan Nedjalkov
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  4. Yasuaki Ueki
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  5. Ryo Yoshiie
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  6. Ichiro Naruse
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Correspondence to Yoko Nunome.

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Nunome, Y., Matsumoto, H., Nedjalkov, I. et al. Combustion behaviors of wasted plastics coated around electric cables in electrically heated drop tube furnaces. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 20, 543–551 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-017-0618-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-017-0618-0

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