Alternative liquid fuel from pyrolysis of polyethylene wax

Abstract

Polyethylene wax was investigated its possibility to be liquid fuel using non-catalytic pyrolysis process at pyrolysis temperature of 400, 450 and 500 °C. The results showed that at 450 °C pyrolysis temperature, the highest liquid product yield was 78.24 and the left part was the incondensable gas and a solid fuel. The results from the elemental analysis showed the products obtained from pyrolysis had similar components for all conditions. The carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen contents were in the range of 76.49–86.38%, 12.99–14.77%, 4.67–6.38%, and 0.46–2.09%, respectively. The results of the chemical structure analysis by GC–MS showed that the increasing pyrolysis temperature resulted in the mainly increasing of the straight-chain paraffin but instead reducing the structure of the double bonds. The results from the fuel property analysis indicated that the specific gravity, viscosity, and heating value of pyrolysis oil were as 0.83, 2.17 cSt, and 10,939 cal/g respectively, that is consistent with the conventional diesel standards. However, the flashpoint still needs to be improved continuously.