Novel photothermal pyrolysis on waste fan blade to generate bisphenol A

Waste fan blade would explosively grow with the life time of wind power machine is ended. Developing new low carbon-emission method to treat waste fan blade and achieving high resource recovery is promising. In this work, a novel photothermal pyrolysis method was developed and firstly applied to treat waste fan blade. A typical waste fan blade was cut, crushed and screened to separate base material and reinforcing fiber, whose mass ratio was 74.36:25.64. The base material was pyrolyzed at varied conditions of pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, gas flow rate respectively. The study showed that bisphenol A was significantly acquired in tars (relative contents were commonly over 40%), and its generation can be promoted by increasing pyrolysis temperature, heating rate and gas flow rare. The generation mechanism of bisphenol A was revealed during photothermal pyrolysis pro-cess: The main chain of 2,2-bis(4-glycidyloxyphenyl)propane resin in base material undergone random or chain cracking reaction to produce bisphenol A rigid skeleton, phenoxy, alkane, hydroxyl and other active groups. Bisphenol A rigid skeleton was the precursor of bisphenol A. Bisphenol A was formed after receiving hydrogen atoms, accompanied by the formation of tetrahydrofuran, 4,4-(propane-2,2-diyl)bis(methoxybenzene) and other substances. Bisphenol A undergone decomposition via secondary reactions, and it was mainly decomposed into phenol and 4-isopropylphenol, 4-isopropylphenol was then dehydrogenated to produce 4-isopropenylphenol.

Automated summary

The waste fan blades of wind power machines grow explosively with the machine's lifespan. Developing a new low-carbon emission method to treat and recycle waste fan blades is promising. In this study, a novel photothermal pyrolysis method was developed and applied to treat waste fan blades.