Phase diagram of the polystyrene/near-critical water system

Shibata, Motoki*; Takenaka, Mikihito*; Motokawa, Ryuhei   ; Kumada, Takayuki   ; Ueda, Yuki   ; Miyazaki, Tsukasa*; Nakanishi, Yohei*; Abe, Jun*; Iwase, Hiroki*; Shibayama, Mitsuhiro*; Arima-Osonoi, Hiroshi*; Takata, Shinichi   ; Yamamoto, Katsuhiro*

The development of effective plastic degradation methods is crucial to address environmental pollution. Hydrothermal liquefaction using near-critical water is a promising technology, but the fundamental dissolution and decomposition mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study investigates the thermodynamics of a polystyrene (PS)/water system under near-critical conditions to elucidate this mechanism. We performed in situ small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to observe the swelling of PS particles in deuterated water (DO) at various temperatures under pressures of 10 MPa and 25 MPa. By applying the (FHS) theory to the swelling data, We quantitatively determined the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter as a function of temperature and pressure by applying the FHS theory to the swelling data. Based on these results, we constructed a phase diagram of the PS/DO system. The diagram reveals that miscibility increases with increasing pressure. This work provides a thermodynamical properties of water solutions of polymers under near-critical conditions for optimizing industrial hydrothermal recycling processes.