Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism

Wang, Ruoxin; Li, Xingyu; Ji, Yichen; Yang, Mingzhou; Rui, Jiayi; Guo, Xiaoya

doi:10.3390/catal15060536

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Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism

by

Ruoxin Wang

^†,

Xingyu Li

^†,

Yichen Ji

,

Mingzhou Yang

,

Jiayi Rui

and

Xiaoya Guo

^*

Department of Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Catalysts 2025, 15(6), 536; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15060536 (registering DOI)

Submission received: 17 April 2025 / Revised: 14 May 2025 / Accepted: 22 May 2025 / Published: 27 May 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanostructured Materials for Photocatalysis and Electrocatalysis)

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Abstract

This study proposes a co-hydrothermal method for the dechlorination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the preparation of hydrothermal carbon. During the co-hydrothermal process, lignin was mixed with PVC, with ammonium carbonate serving as a supplementary additive. The effects of hydrothermal temperature, reaction time, and ammonium carbonate concentration on the dechlorination efficiency of PVC and the pH value of the system are discussed. The experimental results showed that the incorporation of lignin and ammonium nitrate manifested a remarkable synergistic effect, which substantially augmented the dechlorination process of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Under optimal conditions (220 °C, 240 min), the dechlorination efficiency of PVC reached 99.43%. The hydrothermal carbon derived from the co-hydrothermal process exhibited a 73.9% higher calorific value (31.07 MJ/kg) compared with that obtained from pure PVC (17.87 MJ/kg). A physicochemical characterization demonstrated that lignin effectively enhanced the uniform dispersion of PVC particles during hydrothermal treatment. Concurrently, ammonium carbonate increased the solution’s alkalinity, facilitating a nucleophilic attack by OH⁻ on C-Cl bonds and accelerating dechlorination through intensified substitution reactions.

Keywords: co-hydrothermal; polyvinyl chloride; lignin; ammonium carbonate; dechlorination

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MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, R.; Li, X.; Ji, Y.; Yang, M.; Rui, J.; Guo, X. Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism. Catalysts 2025, 15, 536. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15060536

AMA Style

Wang R, Li X, Ji Y, Yang M, Rui J, Guo X. Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism. Catalysts. 2025; 15(6):536. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15060536

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Ruoxin, Xingyu Li, Yichen Ji, Mingzhou Yang, Jiayi Rui, and Xiaoya Guo. 2025. "Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism" Catalysts 15, no. 6: 536. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15060536

APA Style

Wang, R., Li, X., Ji, Y., Yang, M., Rui, J., & Guo, X. (2025). Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism. Catalysts, 15(6), 536. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15060536

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Research on Dechlorination of Polyvinyl Chloride by Co-Hydrothermal Treatment with Lignin and Exploration of Mechanism

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