Transforming Cl-Containing Waste Plastics into Carbon Resource for Steelmaking: Theoretical Insight

The accumulation of waste plastics poses a significant environmental challenge, leading to persistent pollution in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. A practical approach to address this issue involves the transformation of postconsumer waste plastics into industrially valuable products. This study focuses on an example of harnessing the carbon content in these polymers for carbon-demanding industrial processes, thereby reducing waste plastics from the environment and alleviating the demand for mined carbon resources. Employing quantum simulations, we examine the viability of polychloroprene as a carburizing agent in the steelmaking process. Our simulations reveal that polychloroprene exhibits excellent carbon diffusivity in molten iron, with a theoretical diffusion coefficient of 8.983 × 10^-5cm² s^-1. This value competes favorably with that of metallurgical coke and surpasses the carbon diffusivity of other polymers, such as polycarbonate, polyurethane, and polysulfide. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that the chlorine content in polychloroprene does not permeate into molten iron but instead remains confined to the molten iron and slag interface.