Polyvinylidene chloride is a halogen containing polymer that is widely used in food and pharmaceutical packaging. Recycling halogen containing polymers is very challenging. Incineration of such polymers can lead to the formation of dioxins. While PVDC is thermoplastic, it is thermally unstable and degrades on reprocessing. Therefore, for such intractable polymers, chemical recycling, viz. converting the polymer to monomer or to a useful chemical is the only path to recycling. In this project, we explore recycling of PVDC using supercritical water. Water attains its supercritical state at high temperature and pressure, and under these conditions, it is highly oxidising (so much so that special metallurgy is required for supercritical reactors). The degradation of PVDC in supercritical water proceeds to eventually give carbon dioxide and HCl, not very useful materials. More valuable products are formed at intermediate times. Therefore, this project will explore the optimization of SC-water processing of PVDC to obtain useful products.
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