Thermic pyrolysis of polypropylene waste as a source of fuel

Abstract

In this study, the pyrolysis of plastic wastes of polypropylene was investigated to study the quality of liquid products and to identify optimum process conditions for maximizing the yield of the liquid product. Experiments were performed in a stainless steel reactor under the nitrogen atmosphere. The effects of pyrolysis temperature with a constant heating rate on the yields of the products were investigated. The pyrolysis tests were performed to temperatures between 450 °C and 473 °C with a constant heating rate of 15 °C min-1. The results showed that increasing the pyrolysis temperature from 400 °C resulted in a significant increase in the liquid and gas yield. Also, the presence of resins combined with polypropylene and additives modify the thermal degradation kinetics of polypropylene, although not in a significant way concerning the results reported by other researchers for virgin polypropylene. The physical-chemical characteristics of the liquid fraction of pyrolysis products have been compared with those of fossil fuel such as gasoline and diesel, the sulphur content of the liquid product fraction below 3 ppm was novel.