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1,2-Dichloroethane (EDC) plays a major role as an intermediate in the PVC chain and as a feed material for C2 solvent manufacture. Knowledge and understanding at the fundamental level of the role of trace inorganic species present during EDC manufacturing are very limited. The primary aim of this work was therefore to determine the roles of these species. Due to the lack of, and in certain cases contradictory, literature it was important to re-examine the system at its most fundamental levels. The reaction medium in which EDC is produced contains several different organic and inorganic constituents. The most important are 1,2-dichloroethane (present not only as the reaction product but also the solvent), ethane, dichlorine, hydrogen chloride, ethyl chloride, water and iron amongst others (a full description of reaction constituents is provided in chapter 1). The current work has established the presence of [FeCl4]- as the dominant species in solution. Importantly, a precursor to this species has also been identified in dilute and purer/dryer EDC/FeCl3 solutions. This precursor is believed to take the form of a molecular species such as FeCl3.χH2O (χ = 1,2 etc.). The work has also established that the EDC/FeCl3 solution system is inevitably complicated by the presence of FeCl3. This is particularly important when the behaviour of "free" water within the system is examined. The work has established that addition of H2O and/or HCl leads, with time, to the formation of a significant, probably water-related, species in the observed in the infra-red spectrum. A simple model is proposed to account for events occurring at the solid/solution interface.

This thesis examines the possibility of reinforcing thermoplastic matrices, notably polypropylene (PP) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), by (a vegetable fibre) flax. An effort is made to enhance/optimise the mechanical properties of flax, PP composites through a micromechanical and macromechanical study. The fibrc'matrix interface is modified via chemical modifications as well as modifications in processing parameters (transcrystallinity). Effects of parameters like fibre length, fibre volume fraction and fibre-matrix interface modification on the mechanical properties of long flax fibre reinforced PP composites (compression moulded) as well as short flax fibre based composites (injection moulded) are studied. In order to get a better insight in the importance of these different parameters for the optimisation of composite performance, the experimental results are compared with model predictions using micromechanical models for random short-fibre-reinforced composites. For the injection moulded composites, different compounding routes are used and compared. The moisture resistance (pick-up and diffusivity) as well as dimensional stability (swelling) of natural fibre mat reinforced thermoplastics (NMTs), based on different kinds of flax fibres and PPs, are studied. The effects of a novel fibre upgrading method for flax fibres (DuralinTM) on the moisture pick-up and residual tensile properties of NMT composites are explored. Biodegradable composites based on flax fibre and PHAs are analysed. It is observed that addition of (cheap) flax fibre to polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) could be advantageous as far as cost-performance of biopolymer composites is concerned. especially for stiffness critical applications. Mechanical properties of `biocomposites' manufactured through different routes (i. e. injection moulding and compression moulding) are compared. Addition of cheap flax fibres to an expensive and brittle PI IA composite leads to enhanced toughness of the composites. Abstract A life cycle assessment (LCA) study on glass-fibre-mat-reinforced-thermoplastic (GMT) and NMT manufactured by a current production method for thermoplastic prepregs followed by compression moulding into an automotive and non-automotive part is carried out.