Idealy some form of solvent extraction, otherwise If distillation is the go,can someone tell me the properties of the polyester usualy found in these
resins?
Thanksbio2 - 11-2-2005 at 19:40
Wash w/ water then fractionate @ atmos. keeping the 140-150deg distillate. The polyesters should have a much higher Bp although I can't say what
it is they will depolymerize before boiling. PS will decompose around 340 to the monomer.
You may have to wash and/or redistill the crude syrene depending on what you do with it.
Straight styrene resin is also available from the same suppliers as fortifier or glue (ABS etc.). This would also need distilling especially if not
clear.
[Edited on 12-2-2005 by bio2]chemoleo - 11-2-2005 at 19:43
I was thinking about this before.
Wouldn't it be simpler to depolymerise polystyrene with heat, and distill off the styrene? There's a thread on this somewhere btw. It's
cleaner than distilling off the PS from the fiberglass resin. On the other hand, it's undoubtely faster and possibly less messy. I'd not
recommend glassware...
beanbags for fun
ballzofsteel - 11-2-2005 at 20:35
Cheers Guys.
Say I want a few kgs of styrene,can you imagine how tedious it would be to ,aquire,store,grind and distill all that polystyrene?
Nothanks ,Id rather go straight to the source.JohnWW - 11-2-2005 at 21:02
Both styrene and the (unpolymerized) polyester resin have a tendency to polymerize, which would have to be avoided in any attempt to obtain styrene
from the mixture. The polymerization of styrene (phenylethylene) requires a catalyst like benzoyl peroxide which initiates a free-radical chain
reaction; polyesters usually require a base and a transition-metal "soap" like cobalt naphthenate, with heat to about 200ºC. It should be
easy to exclude both of these conditions, in extracting styrene.bio2 - 11-2-2005 at 22:06
Quote:
Originally posted by chemoleo
........It's cleaner than distilling off the PS from the fiberglass resin. On the other hand, it's undoubtely faster and possibly less
messy. I'd not recommend glassware...
Well, although Ive never done it I am saving up PS dissolved in acetone for a few months now, just for the hell of it and give it a try.. A LOT can
be stored in a little space. I probably have at least 10cu ft in a liter. A clever scrounger could tour construction sites with a bucket in the trunk
and probably collect a 20 trailer volume of PS in a weekend.
I doubt that this would be easier or cleaner than distilling mixed resin. Although the suggestion to not use glass is a good one as the apparatus will
probably have to be discarded. At the temp needed there will be a lot of tarry shit produced along with god knows what else and the first pass will
almost surely return red stinky styrene. The excerpt below is from the abstract of the chinese patent in the styrene thread. Sure wish one of the
students here could get the damn thing completely translated.
"PhCH2CO2H (I) is prepd. from polystyrene (II). Crushed II was distd. at 340° to give styrene,..." This is all the abstract says regarding
the styrene distillation. Just buy the damn styrene resin. IPS the maker of PVC glues etc. has it in a can that says "STYRENE"
as the big name on the label. It's used as solvent/thinner for ABS and other styrene based resins.
