Editing Polystyrene (section)

===Incineration===
If polystyrene is properly incinerated at high temperatures (up to 1000&nbsp;°C<ref name="basfti2810d">BASF Technische Information TI 0/2-810d 81677 Juni 1989, Verwertungs- und Beseitigungsverfaren gebrauchter Schaumstoff-Verpackungen aus Styropor®</ref>) and with plenty of air<ref name="basfti2810d" /> (14 m<sup>3</sup>/kg{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}), the chemicals generated are water, carbon dioxide, and possibly small amounts of residual halogen-compounds from flame-retardants.<ref name="basfti2810d"/> If only incomplete incineration is done, there will also be leftover carbon soot and a complex mixture of volatile compounds.<ref name=burning>[http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00053.htm Polystyrene Foam Burning Danger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226223555/http://newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00053.htm |date=26 February 2015 }}. Newton.dep.anl.gov. Retrieved 25 December 2011.  Q and A page with an partially incorrect information.</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Q and A page with an incorrect information included|date=July 2013}} According to the [[American Chemistry Council]], when polystyrene is incinerated in modern facilities, the final volume is 1% of the starting volume; most of the polystyrene is converted into carbon dioxide, water vapor, and heat. Because of the amount of heat released, it is sometimes used as a power source for [[steam]] or [[electricity generation]].<ref name="basfti2810d"/><ref>{{Cite news|title = Ease of Disposal|url = http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/sec_pfpg.asp?CID=1434&did=5226|access-date = 25 June 2009|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090607023527/http://americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/sec_pfpg.asp?CID=1434&DID=5226|archive-date = 7 June 2009}}</ref>

When polystyrene was burned at temperatures of 800–900&nbsp;°C (the typical range of a modern incinerator), the products of combustion consisted of "a complex mixture of [[polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon]]s (PAHs) from alkyl benzenes to benzoperylene. Over 90 different compounds were identified in combustion effluents from polystyrene."<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0021-9673(01)90737-X |title=Products obtained during combustion of polymers under simulated incinerator conditions |journal=Journal of Chromatography A |volume=315 |pages=201–210 |year=1984 |last1=Hawley-Fedder |first1=R.A. |last2=Parsons |first2=M.L. |last3=Karasek |first3=F.W. }}  Quoted from a campaign site giving no details of the original source and experiment conditions.</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Quoted from a campaign site giving no details of the original source and experiment conditions, experiment may have been flawed or the campaign site may be misquoting|date=July 2013}} The American National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research found 57 chemical by-products released during the combustion of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gurman |first1=Joshua L. |title=Polystyrenes: A Review of the Literature on the Products of Thermal Decomposition and Toxicity |journal=Fire and Materials |date=1987 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=109–130 |url=https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=101741 |access-date=18 February 2021 |publisher=NIST|doi=10.1002/fam.810110302 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>