Pyrolysis of Expanded Polystyrene Waste to Obtain Liquid Fuels

Abstract

This research studies the effect of operating temperature and particle size on the yield of liquid products from the pyrolysis process of expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste. For the experiment, the EPS samples were collected, washed and crushed, likewise a pretreatment was carried out in which the residues were heated at 150 °C for 10 min to reduce their volume, preserving the initial mass. The pretreated sample was ground and sieved into two different particle sizes (0-5 and 5-10 mm). For the experiments, a horizontal tubular reactor wasused, which operated at a pressure of 34.66 kPa for 3 hours and at a heating rate of 10 ºC/min. Pyrolysis was carried out at temperaturesof 400, 450, 500and550°C, varying with the two particle sizes indicated above. It was determined that the operating temperature and particle size have a direct effect on the performance of liquid products. Likewise, the operating conditions that maximize the yield of liquid products were the temperature of 550 °Cand the particle size of 5-10 mm, obtaining a yield of liquid products of 97.8%, gaseous products of 1.2% and solid productsof 1.0%.