Fuel oil production from thermal pyrolysis of packaging plastic

Abstract

Nowadays, Plastics are widely used mainly as packaging. With the increasing use of plastic, the amount of plastic waste was increasing. Plastic was a material that was difficult to decompose naturally so that plastic waste will continue to accumulate. This condition will disturbance the environment. In other conditions, energy needs, especially fuel oil, are increasing but the availability of crude oil was limited. This condition requires alternative fuels to maintain the availability of fuel oil for the needs of industry, vehicles and households. Both of these conditions can be related to convert plastic waste into fuel oil through the pyrolysis process. Pyrolysis of plastic waste can be done as thermally and catalytically. The thermal plastic pyrolysis process can be carried out at temperatures between 300-500°C and pyrolysis time between 30-60 minutes. The results of pyrolysis of plastic waste produce fuel oil which can be used as fuel in industries such as boilers. Yield of pyrolysis plastic polypropylene (PP) was higher than plastic polyethylene (PE). The physical properties of oil plastic pyrolysis PE and PP like gasoline but the flash point was lower than gasoline.