Catalytic Pyrolysis of Polypropylene for Cable Semiconductive Buffer Layers

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Polymer Science

Background:

• Cable faults increasingly impact daily life due to expanding power grid systems.
• Polypropylene (PP), a common cable buffer material, exhibits pyrolysis properties crucial to cable fault mechanisms.
• Understanding PP pyrolysis is vital for diagnosing cable faults and identifying ablation events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of temperature and H-Zeolite Standard Oil Corporation Of New York (Socony) Mobil-Five (HZSM-5) catalyst content on polypropylene (PP) thermolysis product distribution.
• To determine optimal conditions for PP thermolysis to aid in cable fault analysis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an online tubular pyrolysis furnace coupled with mass spectrometry (MS).
• Analyzed the thermolysis product distribution of polypropylene (PP) under varying temperatures and HZSM-5 catalyst concentrations.

Main Results:

• The study identified PP/40% HZSM-5 as exhibiting the highest thermolytic efficiency.
• Optimal conditions for maximizing the relative yield of main pyrolysis products were found to be at 400 °C.
• The distribution of thermolysis products was significantly influenced by both temperature and catalyst content.

Conclusions:

• The addition of HZSM-5 catalyst significantly affects PP thermolysis, with 40% HZSM-5 showing peak efficiency.
• 400 °C is identified as the optimal temperature for maximizing thermolytic efficiency and product yield in PP/HZSM-5 mixtures.
• Findings contribute to a better understanding of PP ablation and cable fault diagnosis.