Possible use of spent FCC catalyst for upgrading of wax from the pyrolysis of plastics to liquid fuel

Abstract

The cracking of heavy wax derived from mixed plastics (high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and polypropylene) to chemical and fuel purposes was explored using spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst (spent FCC). The wax cracking was performed by a fixed-bed pyrolysis reactor with a slow heating rate. All catalysts, when compared to other catalysts (HY zeolite and MCM-41), could enhance liquid oil and gas production. While the spent FCC catalyst produced the highest liquid oil with least amount of coke production. The influence of spent FCC catalyst ratio on product distribution revealed that a catalyst-wax ratio of up to 1:1 resulted in a higher liquid oil yield than a low ratio. Additionally, the increase of cracking temperature promoted more oil production; however, at high temperature (above 400 °C) the evaporation of wax became more significant, and consequently a high portion of produced wax was obtained. Therefore, under suitable conditions, the spent FCC catalyst demonstrated the possibility of upgrading the heavy wax into liquid fuels and chemicals. In addition, this study also compared the products obtained from two processing routes using the spent FCC catalyst. The first route involved the pyrolysis of plastics into wax and then cracking the wax into liquid fuel, while the second route involved a one-step process that directly converted plastics into liquid fuel. The spent FCC catalyst promoted the production of diesel-range hydrocarbons and suppressed the aromatic production for the wax cracking. By contrast, the spent FCC catalyst significantly enhanced aromatic production during the cracking of mixed plastics.