Modeling of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer During a Steam-Thermolysis Process for Recycling Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer

A. Oliveira Nunes[1], Y. Soudais[1], R. Barna[1], A. Bounacer[1], Y. Yang[1]
[1]Centre RAPSODEE - Ecole des Mines d'Albi, Albi, France
Published in 2013

Different types of technologies to recycle carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste have been studied, for example: pyrolysis, solvolysis and steam-thermolysis. The steam-thermolysis is a process that combines pyrolysis and superheated steam at atmospheric pressure to decompose the organic matrix of the composite. The waste is introduced into a bench-scale reactor heated at high temperatures under nitrogen atmosphere. A humidity generator is coupled in the reactor gas inlets to provide a flux of superheated steam. A 3D model was built using COMSOL Multiphysics® to better understand velocity and temperature profiles during the steam-thermolysis process within the reactor .

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