Effect of heating rate on oil yield and composition in co-pyrolysis of polypropylene and triglycerides from refined palm oil using ZrO2.Al2O3.TiO2 catalyst

Abstract

Polypropylene is major contributor to waste plastics, but its pyrolysis produces hydrogen radicals beneficial for deoxygenation of carboxylic acids. Fatty acids can be obtained by pyrolysis of triglycerides from refined palm oil. To investigate the possibility of the use of polypropylene as hydrogen donor and as part of hydrocarbons for producing hydrocarbons by deoxygenation of triglycerides, the present research works on catalytic co-pyrolysis of refined palm oil and polypropylene in a semibatch reactor. Two heating rates, i.e. 10℃/min and 6℃/min, were chosen to investigate their effect on liquid yield and remaining oxygen content. The C abundance in liquid product are analysed by C-NMR. The present catalyst of ZrO2.γAl2O3.TiO2 has succeeded in suppressing content of oxygen atoms in liquid product with carbon abundance associated with oxygen not more than 2%. The catalyst contains high basicity which hinders high contribution of polypropylene to the co-pyrolysis by leaving high yields of wax and non-condensable gas. By comparison of primary and secondary alkyl contents in liquid phase, catalytic pyrolysis of refined palm oil produces liquid phase with higher proportion of secondary alkyl while that of polypropylene produces liquid fraction with higher proportion of primary alkyl.