Branching Strategy for Exploiting Styrenic Liquids from the Depolymerization of Polystyrene
발표자
하유진 (인하대학교)
연구책임자
김희중 (인하대학교)
공동저자
하유진 (인하대학교), 김희중 (인하대학교)
초록
내용
Styrenic liquids (SL), produced from polystyrene (PS) depolymerization, contain styrene, solvents (e.g., benzene, toluene), and other impurities. Among them, oligomers such as dimer or trimer promote chain transfer reactions during re-polymerization, resulting in low molar mass, mechanically poor polymer. Inspired by the previous studies, this study focused on increasing weight-average molar mass (Mw) through a branching strategy. By exploiting such large impurities as controlled retarding species, branched PS was synthesized via stepwise addition of the initiator and divinylbenzene (DVB), maintaining low instantaneous concentrations of both components. This approach enabled high monomer conversion while effectively suppressing gelation. The resulting branched PS exhibited improved mechanical properties compared to linear control PS sample. This combined strategy provides the breakthrough for overcoming practical polymerization of SL under the conventional system.