Comparsion of thermal and catalytic pyrolysis for conversion of plastic to fuel

With the development of industries and human societies and the increasing of the production and consumption of plastic materials in recent decades, the accumulation of plastic waste has been become one of the major environmental problems. On the other hand, declining fossil fuel resources, increasing energy demand, and excessive greenhouse gas emissions highlight development of the new sources of energy. For this reason, the international community seeks to provide energy from renewable sources that contribute less pollution to the environment. Many methods have been proposed for waste plastics recycling but most of them are ineffective. Since the decomposition of plastic waste in nature is very time consuming so an efficient, cost-effective, and environmental friendly route is essential. Among the chemical recycling methods, the pyrolysis process is more suitable for solving the recycling crisis of plastic waste as well as energy supply. This paper compares methods of converting waste plastic into fuel with emphasis on pyrolysis method and the effect of various parameters such as plastic type, operating temperature, and reactor type on the performance of the process and the distribution of its products.

Keywords:

Pyrolysis , Plastic , Fuel