Studies on Microwave Pyrolysis of Polypropylene

Abstract

Microwave heating is gaining tremendous acceptance in today's world as a fast and intensive heating medium. Its use for pyrolysis is off late developing as a viable option for recycling of plastic wastes. This process has been studied widely for plastics such as polyethylene and polystyrene for the laboratory scale design of the pyrolysis equipment and the optimization of conversion to liquid fuels such as diesel. Polypropylene is widely used in our daily lives and constitutes about 25% of the total plastic waste generated. This work attempts to study the conversion of polypropylene to liquid hydrocarbon fuels in a microwave pyrolysis reactor and optimize the process variables for maximum conversion. A conversion of 75-80% was obtained at optimum process conditions. The liquid products are identical to petroleum refinery feed stocks and thus present a healthy potential of being processed further in existing petroleum refineries for final conversion of waste plastics into valuable fuels and petrochemicals.