Production of liquid fuel from waste plastic using batch catalytic pyrolysis process

Authors

  • Belete Tessema Asfaw Department of Chemical Engineering
  • Meroda Tesfaye Gari College of Biological and Chemical Engineering

Keywords:

Catalytic Pyrolysis, Liquid fuel, Waste plastic, Polystyrene

Abstract

Waste polystyrene from households and retailing shops are recognized to be the major sources of environmental problem. On the other hand, it represents a source of energy and valuable chemical products. Pyrolysis as a technique of chemical recycling of waste plastic is as an environmentally and economically acceptable option for converting waste plastics into useful resources. In this study, the operating conditions studied were; temperature was varied from 430 to 470°C with increment of 20°C, and residence time was varied from 30 to 60minutes with increment of 30minutes. High conversion of liquid; 49 percent in the presence of 12 gram catalyst. At higher catalyst quantity and lesser degradation temperature the yield of the liquid fuel became higher. The FTIR spectrum indicates there was a presence of Olefins, Naphtalenes, Amine, Acid and Aromatics group in waste plastic type. The liquid fractions were analyzed by GC/MS. The results showed that liquid oil from the catalytic pyrolysis of polystyrene plastic waste was enriched in styrene and consisted of a wide range of hydrocarbons mainly distributed within the C5–C27 that was in the range of gasoline, diesel and heavy oil. The liquid fraction that had high yield for polystyrene plastic type were also analyzed for fuel properties. From the study, liquid oil from polystyrene waste had a density, viscosity and a higher value of flash point and calorific value from PS waste.   

Author Biographies

  • Belete Tessema Asfaw, Department of Chemical Engineering
    Haramaya University, Haramaya Institute of Technology, Haramaya, Ethiopia
  • Meroda Tesfaye Gari, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering
    Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Downloads

Published

2019-09-03

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2019)

Section

Articles

License

Declaration and Copyright Transfer Form

(to be completed by authors)

I/ We, the undersigned author(s) of the submitted manuscript, hereby declare, that the above manuscript which is submitted for publication in the STM Journals(s), is not published already in part or whole (except in the form of abstract) in any journal or magazine for private or public circulation, and, is not under consideration of publication elsewhere.

  • I/We will not withdraw the manuscript after 1 week of submission as I have read the Author Guidelines and will adhere to the guidelines.
  • I/We Author(s ) have niether given nor will give this manuscript elsewhere for publishing after submitting in STM Journal(s).
  • I/ We have read the original version of the manuscript and am/ are responsible for the thought contents embodied in it. The work dealt in the manuscript is my/ our own, and my/ our individual contribution to this work is significant enough to qualify for authorship.
  •  I/We also agree to the authorship of the article in the following order:

Author’s name                                    

 

1. ________________

2. ________________

3. ________________

4. ________________

 

We  Author(s) tick this box and would request you to consider it as our signature as we agree to the terms of this Copyright Notice, which will apply to this submission if and when it is published by this journal.