Synthesis of Modified River Clay Catalyst for Valuable BTE Production via Catalytic Pyrolysis of Hazardous Plastic Waste

Abstract

In the present study, silica‐alumina rich river clay calcined at different temperatures are used as low cost natural green catalyst for the production of valuable aromatics benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene (BTE) via multiphase/Mp‐type catalytic pyrolysis of waste expanded polystyrene (WEPS). The calcined river clay catalysts are designated as RHC‐600, RHC‐700, RHC‐800 and RHC‐900 after calcination at the temperature of 600 °C, 700 °C, 800 °C, and 900 °C, respectively. Whereas, the natural river harvested clay is designated as RHC. The RHC‐800 catalyst is found to be the best catalyst for the WEPS pyrolysis due to its highest surface area of 18.83 m2/g and high silica to alumina (Si/Al) ratio of 2.23 among all other river harvested clay catalysts. The styrene content get reduced from 84.74 wt.% to 65.30 wt.% and BTE content increased from 11.38 wt.% to 23.51 wt.% when the process is switched over from thermal to Mp‐type catalytic pyrolysis using RHC‐800 catalyst. The promising results of RHC‐800 indicate that it can be an alternative to commercial catalyst for pyrolysis applications.