Fuel Oil from Municipal Plastic Waste through Pyrolysis with and without Natural Zeolite as Catalysts

Abstract

The main purpose of this work was the possibility to process the plastic waste into an alternative fuel oil through pyrolysis. This pyrolytic fuel can be utilized as an alternative fuel for cookstoves as a liquid petroleum gas (LPG)/kerosene substitute for the household. The pyrolysis was conducted in a design of a simple, inexpensive and easy to operate semi-batch reactors that be applied definitely in urban and rural communities. Two type of plastic wastes were pyrolyzed up to 480 °C with and without natural zeolite as catalyst. The higher fuel yield (%) was obtained when using zeolite in the process. The amount of 1000 g of two plastics waste type with natural zeolite yielded 650 mL (65% vol/w) and 550 mL (55% vol/w), respectively. The density of fuel oil product from 0.700 kg/m 3 to 0.710 kg/m 3 , the fuel oil kinematic viscosity in the range of 1.07 cSt to 1.14 cSt, and the heating value of 38 MJ/kg were obtained. The physical properties and the results of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR functional groups of this fuel oil were relatively close to that of conventional kerosene fuels. The operational cost of pyrolysis is about IDR 12,300/liters of fuel oil.