Experimental study on catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste using low cost catalyst

Abstract

Energy generation and utilization become an index of country development. The currently using conventional energy sources are depleting at faster rate, thereby researchers are searching for a viable alternative to generate the energy. The source should be compatible with the existing engines to run and sustain eco-balance. The two severe problems facing across the world are continuous raise of plastic usage and depletion of fossil fuels. The major hurdles with the plastic waste are disposal and recycling. The disposal for land filling may cause soil contamination, environmental disturbance due to incineration both are leads to social resistance. Pyrolysis is the one effective solution to resolve the plastic waste disposal is converting the energy a Though, pyrolysis is an effective approach to extract fuel oil from waste plastic, it suffers from expensive of catalysts. In the present work, an attempt has made to address it by utilizing low cost catalyst like fly ash for pyrolysis of HDPE and LDPE plastic. Experiments were conducted on pyrolysis unit by varying the mass fraction of catalyst at 5%, 10% and 15%. It is observed that yield of maximum at 5% and it is decline with the further addition of catalyst. In contra, increase in mass fraction of catalyst reduces the reaction temperatures as well as retention times. The physiochemical properties of collected oil were measured and compared against the diesel and gasoline fuels bides in polymerized links into usable form. It offers dual solution in environmental aspects and addressing the verge fossil fuels.