Polyethylene gasification for sustainable plastic waste management with respect to energy, exergy, and environmental considerations: A non-linear programming optimization

Abstract

Plastic waste poses a significant threat to the environment and plays a substantial role in contributing to climate change. One possible solution for addressing the issue of plastic waste is through plastic waste gasification, which involves converting plastic waste into a valuable gas that can be utilized as an energy source. Numerous reports have investigated the optimization procedures for converting plastic waste into syngas. Nevertheless, all of these reports have concentrated on improving the performance of the gasification process by adjusting processing variables, and none have examined how to optimize plastic waste gasification performance considering material characteristics. To improve the efficiency of polyethylene gasification, this research was undertaken with a focus on energy, exergy, and environmental factors in relation to the material conditions. Various regression models were created to forecast the energy, exergy, and environmental aspects of polyethylene gasification based on material characteristics. These models were then optimized using a general algebraic modeling system. The results indicate that the ideal conditions consist of 84.40 % carbon content, 15 % hydrogen content, and no oxygen or nitrogen content. The optimal criteria include an energy efficiency of 65.9 %, an exergy efficiency of 81.5 %, and an emission level of 28.0 kg/MWh.