Muhammad, C, Onwudili, JA and Williams, PT (2015) Thermal degradation of real-world waste plastics and simulated mixed plastics in a two-stage pyrolysis-catalysis reactor for fuel production. Energy and Fuels, 29 (4). 2601 - 2609. ISSN 0887-0624
Abstract
Real-world postconsumer mixed plastics and a simulated mixture of plastics were processed in a two-stage pyrolysis-catalysis fixed bed reactor in the presence of a zeolite HZSM-5 catalyst. In addition, single plastic polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate were also processed in the two-stage reactor. The product yield, composition, and hydrocarbon distribution of the product oil was obtained in relation to plastic type. Noncatalytic pyrolysis of the plastics produced a high yield of an oil/wax product in the 81-97 wt % range. Addition of the catalyst reduced the yield of oil to between 44 and 51 wt %, with an increase in gas yield from cracking of the oil volatiles. However, the condensed oils produced from pyrolysis-catalysis were enriched with lower molecular weight (C<inf>5</inf>-C<inf>15</inf>) hydrocarbons and were markedly more aromatic in composition with a high proportion of single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons. Comparison of the results from pyrolysis and pyrolysis-catalysis of the simulated mixture of plastics with the data obtained for the individual plastics showed that significant interaction between the plastics occurred in the mixture with higher C<inf>2</inf>-C<inf>4</inf> gas yield and higher aromatic content in the oils than expected from the proportions of the individual plastics in the mixture.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Energy and Fuels, © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef502749h |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) > Energy Research Institute (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Oct 2015 14:28 |
Last Modified: | 25 Mar 2016 13:45 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef502749h |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/ef502749h |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:87466 |