Catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate waste using graphene oxide‐sulfonated zirconia (GO‐Szr) and analysis of its oil properties for Bharat Stage VI fuel production

Abstract

This research work is focused on the production of liquid hydrocarbon fuel from plastic waste. To perform the experiments, polypropylene waste (PPW) and polyethylene terephthalate (PETW) were selected and pyrolyzed in a semi‐batch reactor at a temperature of 500°C. Nearly 72.28 wt.% of liquid fuel was recovered from 100 g of plastic waste feed through non‐catalytic pyrolysis process. The application of catalyst GO‐Szr to the pyrolysis process increased the oil yield to 92.76 wt.%. The oil properties were studied, to assess the characteristics and to compare with that of diesel fuel. The properties of oil were found to possess very good diesel properties such as kinematic viscosity of 2.18 mm2/s, density of 790 kg/m3, cloud and pour point less than −11°C, Sulphur content less than 3 ppm and cetane number was found to be as high as 72.44. From these studies, it is highlighted that waste plastics pyrolysis is a suitable option to produce diesel‐like fuel.