Pp

A new method, called the DTG curve fitting method, has been used to determine the kinetic parameters of six major plastic materials found among urban refuse: high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, poly(vinyl chloride), and poly(ethylene terephthalate). This method involves first measuring the weight loss behaviour by using thermogravimetry (TG) and then using the Arrhenius equation to fit the DTG curves obtained from the TG measurement. The kinetic parameter data obtained have been compared to, and agree well, with the literature data. With this method, computer software, named “DTGsim” has been developed, for use under Windows with a user friendly interface.

In 1538, the Christians let escape a great victory on the Turks and the possibility to vanquish definitively Barbarossa. Why this campaign was not a success despite the supposed superiority of the Christians? A synthetic reconstruction of this unfortunate operation at Preveza could provide us many useful informations revealing different mixed interests. Different sources could provide another explanation of the facts, illustrating the mentalities of the time.

Previous work on Relative Clause attachment has overlooked a crucial grammatical distinction across both the languages and structures tested: the selective availability of Pseudo Relatives. We reconsider the literature in light of this observation and argue that, all else being equal, local attachment is found with genuine Relative Clauses and that non-local attachment emerges when their surface identical imposters, Pseudo Relatives, are available. Hence, apparent cross-linguistic variation in parsing preferences is reducible to grammatical factors. The results from two novel experiments in Italian are presented in support of these conclusions.

The extent of organo-modified clay (C93A) platelets dispersion in polymer matrix and crystallization and melting behavior of iPP-based nanocomposites prepared by a single-step melt-mixing method were investigated by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), transmission (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). WAXD patterns revealed exfoliated structure of nanocomposites containing 1 wt% clay, and mixed intercalated/exfoliated structure at higher concentration of nanoclay. The isothermal crystallization proceeds faster in the matrix polymer (iPP/PP-g-MA) than in nanocomposite samples. The results obtained for T mo suggest that the presence of nanoclay has induced a perfection of the formed crystals. The presence of C93A particles in PP leads to increase in crystallization peak temperature implying nucleating ability of clay particles, which was more pronounced in exfoliated than in mixed intercalated/exfoliated system.

Vacuum pyrolysis of individual plastics including high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) has been performed at a final temperature of 500°C and under a total pressure of 2 kPa. A PVC sample and a commingled plastic sample composed of HDPE/LDPE/PP/PS/PVC have been pyrolyzed in two consecutive steps at 360 and 520°C in order to separately trap HCl. A pyrolysis set-up consisting of a bench scale batch reactor with a condensation train was used to collect the pyrolysis products. The main gaseous and liquid products, including the chlorinated hydrocarbons, were identified by chromatography. Global and chlorine mass balances were performed. The yields and pyrolysis product composition from each single polymer were compared with those from the commingled plastics. At 520°C, 99.55 wt.% of the total chlorine was trapped as HCl corresponding to 4.6 wt.% in yield, on an original feedstock basis, followed by 62.0 wt.% wax, 31.1 wt.% oil, 1.0 wt.% gas and 1.2 wt.% solid char residue (loss was 0.1 wt.%). The pyrolysis oil contained 12 ppm Cl on a pyrolysis oil basis. This value was less than what was expected (153 ppm) from the theoretical values which were calculated when the individual polymers were pyrolysed. The chlorinated hydrocarbons formed during the pyrolysis of commingled plastics were different from those obtained during the thermal decomposition of pure PVC. However, the hydrocarbons produced in the oil fraction were similar to those identified during the pyrolysis of the single plastics.