Fuel from Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis of plastic wastes to fuel oil with and without catalyst
Baoying Shi, Yufeng Wang
Guangdong Dongguan Quality Supervision Testing Center Dongguan，China
Chengzhi Chuai
School of Material Science & Chemical Engineering Tianjin University of Science & Technology Tianjin, China
Abstract—Two types of waste plastics were used in this study: polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). This paper described pyrolysis of plastic waste materials with and without catalyst. The influence of the production of liquid was investigated from plastic wastes by various catalysts. On the laboratory condition, using self-making PZSM-5 zeolite as catalyst, the yield of liquid product was highest. Key words-plastic wastes; pyrolysis; fuel oil; catalyst
pyrolysis, the polymeric materials are heated to high temperatures, so their macromolecular structures are broken down into smaller molecules and a wide range of hydrocarbons are formed. These pyrolytic products can be divided into a gas fraction, a liquid fraction consisting of paraffins, olefins, naphthenes and aromatics, and solid residues. Pyrolysis appears to be a technique that is able to convert waste plastics into gasoline-range hydrocarbons [1]. There are four major methods for conversion of organic wastes to synthetic fuels: (1) hydrogenation, (2) pyrolysis, (3) thermal and/or catalytic cracking, (4) gasification and bioconversion [2, 3]. Literature reports several papers on pyrolysis of plastic wastes [4]. The decomposition of a polymer mixture over HZSM-5 modified with phosphoric acid zeolite catalysts (PZSM-5) has been comparatively studied [5]. Catalytic decomposition increased the amount of gaseous products, lowered the condensate, and changed their composition with respect to non-catalytic at the same pyrolysis temperature. The gaseous products contained a large C1～C3 fraction, while the liquid products contained mainly aromatic hydrocarbons. II. EXPERIMENTAL Two types of waste plastics were used in this
Baoying Shi, Yufeng Wang
Guangdong Dongguan Quality Supervision Testing Center Dongguan，China
Chengzhi Chuai
School of Material Science & Chemical Engineering Tianjin University of Science & Technology Tianjin, China
Abstract—Two types of waste plastics were used in this study: polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). This paper described pyrolysis of plastic waste materials with and without catalyst. The influence of the production of liquid was investigated from plastic wastes by various catalysts. On the laboratory condition, using self-making PZSM-5 zeolite as catalyst, the yield of liquid product was highest. Key words-plastic wastes; pyrolysis; fuel oil; catalyst
pyrolysis, the polymeric materials are heated to high temperatures, so their macromolecular structures are broken down into smaller molecules and a wide range of hydrocarbons are formed. These pyrolytic products can be divided into a gas fraction, a liquid fraction consisting of paraffins, olefins, naphthenes and aromatics, and solid residues. Pyrolysis appears to be a technique that is able to convert waste plastics into gasoline-range hydrocarbons [1]. There are four major methods for conversion of organic wastes to synthetic fuels: (1) hydrogenation, (2) pyrolysis, (3) thermal and/or catalytic cracking, (4) gasification and bioconversion [2, 3]. Literature reports several papers on pyrolysis of plastic wastes [4]. The decomposition of a polymer mixture over HZSM-5 modified with phosphoric acid zeolite catalysts (PZSM-5) has been comparatively studied [5]. Catalytic decomposition increased the amount of gaseous products, lowered the condensate, and changed their composition with respect to non-catalytic at the same pyrolysis temperature. The gaseous products contained a large C1～C3 fraction, while the liquid products contained mainly aromatic hydrocarbons. II. EXPERIMENTAL Two types of waste plastics were used in this
References: [1] Pinto, F.,Costa, P.,Gulyurtlu, I. Effect of plastic waste composition on product yield, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 1999, 51(1):39-55 Williams, Elizabeth A, Paul T. Analysis of products derived from the fast pyrolysis of plastic waste Source, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 1997, 40,347-363 Demirbas A. Recent advances in biomass conversion technologies, Energy Edu. Sci. Technol, 2000, 6, 77-83 Miller, Stephe n J., Shah, Naresh. Conversion of waste plastic to lubricating base oil, Energy and Fuels, 2005, 19(4), 1580-1586 Williams, P.T. Recycling plastic waste by pyrolysis, Journal of the Institute of Energy, 1998, 71, 81-93 Manos G, Garforth A, Dwyer J. Catalytic Degradation of High Density Polyethylene over different Zeolitic structures, Ind Eng Chem Res, 2000, 39, 1198–202 IV. CONCLUSION [2] It is well known that PZSM-5 has the shape selectivity properties of its relatively small pore structure that does not allow the growth of large coke molecules. The liquid products from plastic wastes could be considered as a mixture of heavy naphtha, gasoline and light gas oil fractions. The gaseous products typically contain C1～C4 paraffinic hydrocarbons with some olefins. As such, most of the liquid products formed would be ideally suited to further processing in a petrochemical refinery. Currently, due to the higher oil prices, pyrolysis process is likely to be economically competitive. Moreover, [3] [4] [5] [6]