Fuel Oil Production from Pyrolysis of Waste Polyethylene Carry Bags

Abstract

Waste plastics are a significant contributor to municipal and industrial wastes. Today, environmental pollution caused by waste plastics is a worldwide serious problem due to their continuous accumulation in the environment and inability to biodegrade for a long period. As a result, it is critical to find a safe way to dispose of waste plastics. Pyrolysis is one of the most effective methods for recovering useful products from waste plastics. The pyrolysis of waste polyethylene (PE) carry bags in a batch-type reactor is studied and discussed in this paper. Generally, the pyrolytic conversion of feedstocks produces solid, liquid, and gaseous products. Optimization experiments were carried out in a batch-type pyrolysis system at 400, 450, 500, and 550 oC to recover maximum fuel oil from plastic wastes. At 500 °C, the maximum fuel oil yielded as 59.3 percent in 42 minutes from waste PE carry bags. Whereas, the char and gas yields ranged from 6.6 and 34.1%, respectively. The calorific value of fuel oil was 40.8 MJ/kg. The presence of alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes functional groups in fuel oil was revealed by FT-IR analysis. These findings suggest that fuel oil derived from waste PE bags can be used as an alternative fuel.