Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to optimise the liquid product of pyrolysis from as much as 500 g of polypropylene (PP) plastic waste, using a fixed bed type reactor in a vacuum condition (-3 mm H2O), to minimise the oxygen entering the reactor. The vapour flows through the 4-tray distillation bubble cap plate column for fractionation by utilising heat from the reactor. Process conditions at 500-650 °C and of 580 °C optimum liquid oil yield is 88 wt.%, comprising of kerosene in tray I with a volume of 350 ml, gasoline in tray II and III with a volume of 228 ml, and tray IV had no condensate. Gas yield is 5 wt.% and the rest is char. At the conditions between 500 °C and 560 °C, gasoline yield in 6-67 wt.% comprises of kerosene and gasoline. However, at process conditions between 600 °C and 650 °C yields of 64-83 wt.% comprising of diesel oil was obtained at tray I and II, while kerosene and gasoline were obtained in the next tray. The characteristics of fuel obtained from plastic such as density, viscosity, octane-cetane number, ash content and calorific value have similar properties with those of fossil fuels.
