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International audience; Pyrolysis of waste plastic (WP) is a promising method to solve the plastic pollution issue. WP is mainly composed of polyethylene (PE). Moreover, the products of waste polyethylene (WPE) pyrolysis could serve as high quality fuels and the feedstocks of petrochemicals. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the WPE and WP pyrolysis process. This study evaluates pure PE, WPE and WP pyrolysis kinetic parameters by the use of genetic algorithm (GA) and isoconversional methods coupled with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. Additionally, three representative reaction models, i.e. reaction-order, extended Prout–Tompkins and Sestak–Berggren models, are investigated for obtaining the most suitable model, which could describe the PE, WPE and WP pyrolysis process more accurately. Consequently, the reaction-order model turns out to be the optimal method for appropriately describing PE, WPE and WP pyrolysis processes. Hence, the pyrolysis parameters optimized by GA are proven to be accurate and reliable, in comparison of calculated values of activation energy by isoconversional methods and experimental data. Moreover, it might be applicable of GA coupled with TGA with reaction-order model to the future industrial WPE and WP pyrolysis circumstances that have variable heating rates

International audience; It is elementary to recognize the benefits and the negative impacts of the use of plastic materials on modern societies. Polyethylene (PE) is the major plastic component present in the municipal solid waste. In this paper, two types of low-density PE (LDPE) waste with different mechanical recycling stress histories were used to investigate the influence of recycling cycles on pyrolysis. The kinetic triplet and thermal degradation study were obtained using TGA data.To determine the sample composition and hydrocarbon arrangements, ultimate, proximate and X-ray diffraction analyses were carried out. Taking advantage of these analyses and combining them with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data, a series-parallel pyrolysis pathway was formulated. The waste of recycled polyethylene presented low enthalpy of pyrolysis, at about 205 J/g against 299 J/g for a virgin PE. The DSC analyses evidenced a multi-step reaction behavior of the pyrolysis, confirmed by the kinetic study using different isoconversional methods: the waste of recycled polyethylene presented a higher variation of activation energies as a function of the fraction reacted. The main conclusion is that the results suggest that the recycling stress history promotes the increase of long carbon chains while weakening the boundary among the compounds. This explains the fact that recycled waste needs less activation energy than other samples to degrade thermally. Finally, different categories of low-density polyethylene wastes must be considered when dealing with either kinetics or modeling of the product recovery process.