Combustibles alternativos para motores de combustión interna obtenidos a partir de residuos plásticos

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Of the different methods for recycling plastic, pyrolysis offers the possibility to overcome the limitations of mechanical recycling, which requires large amounts of clean, separate and homogeneous plastic waste to ensure the quality of the final product. Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of plastic materials by thermal degradation in the absence of oxygen. The plastic waste is introduced into a chamber, where it is subjected to high temperatures, and the gases generated are condensed in order to obtain a distillate hydrocarbon. This paper presents the results obtained from the pyrolysis of plastic waste mixtures of polypropylene, high density polyethylene, and low density polyethylene. In a first stage, the plastic waste is subjected to a rapid pyrolysis process at temperatures of 440-450 °C, obtaining a mixture of heavy hydrocarbons. Subsequently, these hydrocarbons are subjected to a distillation process, first at a temperature of 180 °C, where a hydrocarbon with properties similar to those of gasoline is obtained, and then at a temperature of 360 °C, yielding a hydrocarbon with properties similar to those of diesel.