Catalytic Pyrolysis of Plastic Waste to Liquid Fuel: Optimization of Process Parameters by Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Chemical Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, P.O. Box 63187, Iran

Abstract

Catalytic pyrolysis of plastic wastes is recently deemed as an effective way to address the drastic issue of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) accumulation in the globe. In this work, catalytic pyrolysis of waste low-density polyethylene plastics (LDPE) to liquid fuels is studied. Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to find the optimal condition for catalytic pyrolysis of LDPE. This paper investigates the influence of reaction temperature, catalysts acidity and mass ratio of catalysts to LDPE on liquid yield production by use of Response surface methodology. Results show that the maximum liquid yield of 80.85 wt% is achievable in the temperature of 455°C, acidity content of catalyst 0.4 and catalyst/waste LDPE mass ratio of 2:5. Furthermore, 63.6% of obtained products are contained hydrocarbons ranging C5 to C12 with high heating value.

Keywords