Dehydrochlorination behavior of flexible PVC pellets in NaOH solutions at elevated temperature

Flexible PVC pellets were treated at 150–250°C in 0–7M NaOH solutions for 0–12 h. The degree of dehydrochlorination of flexible PVC pellets increased with increasing reaction temperature and was about 100% at 250°C over 5 h. A porous char, 2–16 μm in pore size, was produced. The dehydrochlorination of PVC in the flexible PVC was proceeded by a first-order reaction in alkaline solution. The maximum rate of the dehydrochlorination for flexible PVC was reached at 5M NaOH. The apparent activation energies were 22–35 kcal/mol in 1–7M NaOH for flexible PVC. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 67:2171–2177, 1998