Catalytic pyrolysis of high-density polyethylene residues using FCC equilibrium catalyst

Abstract

The research studied the performance of liquid products obtained in catalytic pyrolysis from high density polyethylene (HDPE) residues using the equilibrium catalyst (E-Cat) as catalyst without prior treatment. The effect of operating temperature on the performance of liquid products was studied, and the results of catalytic pyrolysis with untreated E-Cat and catalytic pyrolysis with treated E-Cat were also compared. For the investigation, samples of HDPE residues from urban solid waste (RSU) were used, also E-Cat from the Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCC) of a local refinery was used, a laboratory scale system for catalytic pyrolysis was used. The highest yield of liquid products in catalytic pyrolysis was 89% and 80% using treated and untreated E-Cat respectively, the operating conditions that maximize the performance of liquid products in catalytic pyrolysis were a temperature of 873.15 K with the ratio E-Cat/HDPE of 10%, at higher temperatures the yields decrease in both cases. E-Cat treatment improves the performance of liquid products obtained from catalytic pyrolysis compared to the results obtained from untreated E-Cat.