Thermal Pyrolysis of Polypropylene Plastic Waste into Liquid Fuel: Reactor Performance Evaluation

Abstract

The amount of plastic waste is growing over years due to the vast applications of plastics in many sectors. Of the various processes that can be used to convert solid waste into fuels, the pyrolysis process has been identified as having significant potential. Pyrolysis thermally degrading long chain polymer molecules into smaller, less complex molecules, through heat and pressure with little or in absence of oxygen. In this study, a 125 dm3 pyrolysis reactor was designed and its performance was evaluated. The feedstock for the reactor was 1 kg polypropylene type of plastic waste and conducted at temperature of 250 °C, 300 °C, 350 °C and 400 °C, each process was carried out at 30 minutes and 60 minutes of operating time. The results showed that at a temperature of 400 °C, for a period of 60 minutes, a maximum yield of 88.86% liquid fuel was achieved. Obtained pyrolysis liquid fuel is comparable with the commercial fuel set by Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Furthermore, the viscosity and calorific value of liquid fuel produced are close to those of kerosene, meanwhile the density is close to the density of gasoline.