Pyrolysis of plastic packaging waste: A comparison of plastic residuals from material recovery facilities with simulated plastic waste

Pyrolysis may be an alternative for the reclamation of rejected streams of waste from sorting plants where packing and packaging plastic waste is separated and classified. These rejected streams consist of many different materials (e.g., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), aluminum, tetra-brik, and film) for which an attempt at complete separation is not technically possible or economically viable, and they are typically sent to landfills or incinerators. For this study, a simulated plastic mixture and a real waste sample from a sorting plant were pyrolyzed using a non-stirred semi-batch reactor. Red mud, a byproduct of the aluminum industry, was used as a catalyst. Despite the fact that the samples had a similar volume of material, there were noteworthy differences in the pyrolysis yields. The real waste sample resulted, after pyrolysis, in higher gas and solid yields and consequently produced less liquid. There were also significant differences noted in the compositions of the compared pyrolysis products.     

Deactivation and regeneration of ZSM-5 zeolite in catalytic pyrolysis of plastic wastes

In this work, a study of the regeneration and reuse of ZSM-5 zeolite in the pyrolysis of a plastic mixture has been carried out in a semi-batch reactor at 440 °C. The results have been compared with those obtained with fresh-catalyst and in non-catalytic experiments with the same conditions. The use of fresh catalyst produces a significant change in both the pyrolysis yields and the properties of the liquids and gases obtained. Gases more rich in C3-C4 and H₂ are produced, as well as lower quantities of aromatic liquids if compared with those obtained in thermal decomposition. The authors have proved that after one pyrolysis experiment the zeolite loses quite a lot of its activity, which is reflected in both the yields and the products quality; however, this deactivation was found to be reversible since after regeneration heating at 550 °C in oxygen atmosphere, this catalyst recovered its initial activity, generating similar products and in equivalent proportions as those obtained with fresh catalyst.     

Pyrolysis of municipal plastic wastes: Influence of raw material composition

The objective of this work is the study of pyrolysis as a feedstock recycling process, for valorizing the rejected streams that come from industrial plants, where packing and packaging wastes are classified and separated for their subsequent mechanical recycling. Four real samples collected from an industrial plant at four different times of the year, have been pyrolysed under nitrogen in a 3.5 dm³ autoclave at 500 °C for 30 min. Pyrolysis liquids are a complex mixture of organic compounds containing valuable chemicals as styrene, ethyl-benzene, toluene, etc. Pyrolysis solids are composed of the inorganic material contained in the raw materials, as well as of some char formed in the pyrolysis process, and pyrolysis gases are mainly composed of hydrocarbons together with some CO and CO₂, and have very high gross calorific values (GCV).It has been proved by the authors that the composition of the raw material (paper, film, and metals contents) plays a significant role in the characteristics of pyrolysis products. High paper content yields water in the pyrolysis liquids, and CO and CO₂ in the gases, high PE film content gives rise to high viscosity liquids, and high metals content yields more aromatics in the liquid products, which may be attributed to the metals catalytic effect.     

Pyrolysis of municipal plastic wastes II: Influence of raw material composition under catalytic conditions

In this work, the results obtained in catalytic pyrolysis of three plastic waste streams which are the rejects of an industrial packing wastes sorting plant are presented. The samples have been pyrolysed in a 3.5 dm(3) reactor under semi-batch conditions at 440 °C for 30 min in nitrogen atmosphere. Commercial ZSM-5 zeolite has been used as catalyst in liquid phase contact. In every case, high HHV gases and liquids which can be useful as fuels or source of chemicals are obtained. A solid fraction composed of the inorganic material contained in the raw materials and some char formed in the pyrolysis process is also obtained. The zeolite has shown to be very effective to produce liquids with great aromatics content and C3-C4 fraction rich gases, even though the raw material was mainly composed of polyolefins. The characteristics of the pyrolysis products as well as the effect of the catalyst vary depending on the composition of the raw material. When paper rich samples are pyrolysed, ZSM-5 zeolite increases water production and reduces CO and CO(2) generation. If stepwise pyrolysis is applied to such sample, the aqueous liquid phase can be separated from the organic liquid fraction in a first low temperature step.     

Pyrolysis behavior of different type of materials contained in the rejects of packaging waste sorting plants

In this paper rejected streams coming from a waste packaging material recovery facility have been characterized and separated into families of products of similar nature in order to determine the influence of different types of ingredients in the products obtained in the pyrolysis process. The pyrolysis experiments have been carried out in a non-stirred batch 3.5 dm³ reactor, swept with 1 L min^?1 N₂, at 500 °C for 30 min. Pyrolysis liquids are composed of an organic phase and an aqueous phase. The aqueous phase is greater as higher is the cellulosic material content in the sample. The organic phase contains valuable chemicals as styrene, ethylbenzene and toluene, and has high heating value (HHV) (33–40 MJ kg^?1). Therefore they could be used as alternative fuels for heat and power generation and as a source of valuable chemicals. Pyrolysis gases are mainly composed of hydrocarbons but contain high amounts of CO and CO₂; their HHV is in the range of 18–46 MJ kg^?1. The amount of COCO₂ increases, and consequently HHV decreases as higher is the cellulosic content of the waste. Pyrolysis solids are mainly composed of inorganics and char formed in the process. The cellulosic materials lower the quality of the pyrolysis liquids and gases, and increase the production of char.