A diffuse-interface formulation for melting and vaporization of plastics

ORAL

Abstract

Thermo-chemical recycling of plastics, which uses heat and oxidizer-reduced atmospheres to convert waste into syngas, is an emerging technology for recycling multi-polymer materials.

Plastics undergo molecular breakdown during melting and vaporization. Capturing this complex phenomenon in simulations necessitates accurate interface-resolved simulations to account for phase changes and gas phase transport with compressibility effects. Additionally, a surrogate representation of the thermophysical properties for each phase is required. Diffuse Interface (DI) method formulations are a viable alternative for scenarios involving mass transfer, as DI allows solving mass balance equations in each phase, thus satisfying mass conservation at a discrete level.

This work aims to derive a diffuse interface formulation for multiple solids and multi-component systems under non-dilute conditions for liquid and vapor phases. The formulation further includes melting and vaporization terms to account for phase change. The model's capabilities are demonstrated using multi-layer films commonly found in food packaging, consisting of low-linear polyethylene and polypropylene.

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Publication: (Planned) A diffuse-interface formulation for melting and vaporization of plastics

Presenters

  • Danny Long

    Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Authors

  • Danny Long

    Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  • Aritra Mukherjee

    Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  • Salar Zamani Salimi

    Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

  • Lucy J Brown

    Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University, Center for Turbulence Research

  • Henry Collis

    Stanford University

  • Shahab Mirjalili

    Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University

  • Suhas Jain

    Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford Universty, USA, Georgia Institute of Technology, Flow Physics and Computational Sciences Lab, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech, Flow Physics and Computational Science Lab, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332, USA, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology; Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

  • Luca Brandt

    Politecnico di Turino, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

  • Corinna Netzer

    Norwegian University of Science and Technology