Investigation of catalytic degradation of high-density polyethylene by hydrocarbon group type analysis

Abstract

Catalytic degradation of waste high-density polyethylene (HDPE) to hydrocarbons by ZSM-5, zeolite-Y, mordenite and amorphous silica–alumina were carried out in a batch reactor to investigate the cracking efficiency of catalysts by analyzing the oily products including paraffins, olefins, naphthenes and aromatics with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Catalytic degradation of HDPE with zeolite-Y, mordenite and amorphous silica–alumina yielded 71–82 wt.% oil fraction, which mostly consisted of C 6–C 12 hydrocarbons, whereas ZSM-5 yielded much lower 35% oil fraction, which mostly consisted of C 6–C 12 hydrocarbons. Both all zeolites and silica–alumina increased olefin content in oil products, and ZSM-5 and zeolite-Y particularly enhanced the formation of aromatics and branched hydrocarbons. ZSM-5 among zeolites showed the greatest catalytic activity on cracking waste HDPE to light hydrocarbons, whereas mordenite produced the greatest amount of coke. Amorphous silica–alumina also showed a great activity on cracking HDPE to lighter olefins in high yield, but no activity on aromatic formation.