title: Combustion kinetics and emission characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from polylactic acid combustion.
abstract: This study investigates the combustion kinetics and emission factors of 16 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in polylactic acid (PLA) combustion. Experimentally, two reactions are involved in the PLA combustion process that potentially result in the release of lactide, acetaldehyde, and n-hexaldehyde. The products may continuously be oxidized to form carbon dioxide (CO2) and some PAHs produced because of incomplete combustion. The analytical results indicate that the emission factors for PAHs are in the range of not detectable to 98.04 microg/g. The emission factors are much lower than those of poly(ethylene terephalate) (PET) and other combustion of plastics. Results from this work suggest that combustion is a good choice for waste PLA disposal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Fooyin University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China. PL036@mail.fy.edu.tw
authors.forename: Yi-Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: Chenju
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Shou-Heng
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shu-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry; D000397:Air Pollution; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D017745:Incineration / Q000295:instrumentation; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide)