Pyrolysis of flame retardant brominated polyester composites.

A series of three flame retardant, thermoset polyester/styrene composite wastes were pyrolysed in a static-bed reactor. The wastes contained different proportions of brominated polyester resin. Higher char and gas yields were observed on the pyrolysis of the brominated samples than for a similar non-brominated sample. The pyrolysis gas composition showed a small, but significant influence of pyrolysis temperature and by the use of brominated resin. In all cases, over 95wt % of the bromine originally present in the composite ended up in the condensable products. Thermo-gravimetric analysis indicated that the presence of brominated polyester resins decreased the temperatures at which the main decomposition region started and the maximum rate of weight loss was observed. The global apparent activation energy of decomposition was between 83 and 97kJ mol(-1).