Kinectic Parameters for Degradation of municipal waste polymer

The municipal waste is a complex ecosystem with several transformations and biochemical process of different microbial species. The increase in the production and consumption of thermoplastics in the world, defined the importance of some polymeric commodities. These materials with low degradation has been providing high discard in the waste. The polymeric material used in this work, polyethylene of low density (LDPE), was collected in the municipal waste São Giácomo located in Caxias do Sul, RS-Brazil. This municipal waste presented a generation of 15 % of polymeric residues 1. The samples were collected by perforations realized in different points (three samples sites C9, C4 and C3) and depths (8 to 16 m). After collection, the material was washed to according the ASTM D 6288-98 standard. The thermogravimetric analysis (TG) was performed on a Shimadzu, TGA-50, in N2 atmosphere, flow 100 mL min-1. Non-isothermal experiments were performed in the temperature range of 25- 900°C at heat rate of 10°C min-1. The kinetic parameters were obtained using the Freeman-Carroll method 2 based on thermogravimetric analysis (TG and DTG). Table 1 gives the results obtained for the degradation of LDPE virgin and for the samples collected in the municipal waste. Table 1: Results obtained for the degradation of LDPE virgin and for the samples collected in the municipal waste