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- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received May 5, 2025
Accepted May 28, 2025
Available online November 25, 2025
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Thermal Decomposition of Styrene Methyl Methacrylate and Expanded Polystyrene via Ball‑Mill‑Assisted Pyrolysis
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00490-5
Abstract
Virgin styrene methyl methacrylate (SMMA) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) were pyrolyzed in a ball-mill-type reactor
developed by modifying a conventional rotary kiln-type system. The pyrolysis experiments were conducted within a temperature
range of 500–700 °C and 450–650 °C for virgin SMMA and EPS, respectively. The optimal pyrolysis temperatures
for virgin SMMA and EPS were 650 °C and 600 °C, respectively, with corresponding liquid product yields of 87.3% and
88.2%. The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry of the recovered liquid products showed that the major components
were styrene and methyl methacrylate for virgin SMMA and styrene for EPS. Comparative pyrolysis experiments of the
rotary kiln-type and ball-mill-type reactors showed that the ball-mill-type reactor achieved significantly higher liquid product
recovery rates than the conventional rotary kiln-type reactor.
