Recycling End-of-life Polycarbonate in Steelmaking; $\textit{Ab Initio}$ Study of Carbon Dissolution in Molten Iron

Abstract

The scarcity of fossil fuels as carbon resources has motivated the steelmaking industry to search for new carbon sources such as end-of-life polymeric products. Using $\textit{ab initio}$ molecular dynamics simulation, we demonstrate that 41% of polycarbonate's carbon content is readily dissolved in molten iron's interface at $T$ = 1823 K which is comparable to graphite with $\sim$ 58% carbon content dissolution. More importantly, we demonstrate that polycarbonate's hydrogen content does not dissolve in molten iron but rather escape in gaseous form. Therefore, waste polycarbonate constitutes a feasible carbon source for steelmaking.