Waste Polypropylene and Waste Cooking Oil As Feedstocks for an Alternative Component Containing Diesel Fuel Production

Abstract

Nowadays the development and application of alternative fuels (including biofuels) are highly important for several reasons, e.g., protection of the environment and people’s health and achievement of sustainable development, etc. Diesel fuels are important in road transportation in the European Union and all over the world. So, it is necessary to develop alternative (bio)­fuels for diesel engines. During the development of these alternative fuels, it is necessary to take into account that it does not endanger the cultivation of food and feed crops. According to the above-mentioned reasons, we studied the catalytic hydrogenation of mixtures of the middle distillates derived from thermal cracking of waste polypropylene (WPPCF) (5–30%), waste cooking oil (WCO) (20–45%), and straight-run gas oil (GO) (50%), on a sulfided NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst to produce diesel fuel. We investigated the effects of feedstock compositions and process parameters (T = 300–360 °C, LHSV = 1.0–3.0 h–1, P = 40 bar, hydrogen/feedstock = 400 N m3/m3) on the main product’s quality and yield. We concluded that good quality diesel fuel blending components with high alternative component content (approximately 50%) can be produced from feedstocks having 30/20% WPPCF, 20/30% WCO, and 50% GO at advantageous process parameters (T = 340–360 °C, LHSV = 1.0 h–1, P = 40 bar, hydrogen/feedstock = 400 N m3/m3).

Novel trends in plastic waste management

“…Also, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had undergone generation, and about 9% of these had undergone recycling, 12% has been incinerated, and 79% has undergone accumulation in landfills or in the environment. If the present manufacturing rate and waste management trends continue, it is estimated that 12,000 Mt of wastes plastics will be released in the landfills or in the natural environment by 2050 [50].…”

“…Thus, globally for nonfiber plastics, the rates of recycling and incineration have gradually increased and accounted for 18 and 24%, respectively, of non-fiber plastic wastes generated by 2014. Based on limited data available, the highest rates of recycling in 2014 persisted in Europe (30%) and China (25%), while in the USA, plastic recycling has remained consistent at 9% since 2012 [50]. In Europe and China, the rates of incineration rates escalated with time to attain 40 and 30%, respectively, in 2014 [50].…”

“…Based on limited data available, the highest rates of recycling in 2014 persisted in Europe (30%) and China (25%), while in the USA, plastic recycling has remained consistent at 9% since 2012 [50]. In Europe and China, the rates of incineration rates escalated with time to attain 40 and 30%, respectively, in 2014 [50]. However, in the USA, non-fiber-plastics incineration peaked at 21% in 1995 before reducing to 16% in 2014 as rates of recycling increased, with rate of discarding remaining consistent at 75% during the period [50].…”

“…In Europe and China, the rates of incineration rates escalated with time to attain 40 and 30%, respectively, in 2014 [50]. However, in the USA, non-fiber-plastics incineration peaked at 21% in 1995 before reducing to 16% in 2014 as rates of recycling increased, with rate of discarding remaining consistent at 75% during the period [50]. It is estimated that if the rate of production continued on this trend, man will have produced 26,000 Mt of resins, 6000 Mt of PP and A-fibers, and 2000 Mt of additives toward ending of 2050.…”

“…It is estimated that if the rate of production continued on this trend, man will have produced 26,000 Mt of resins, 6000 Mt of PP and A-fibers, and 2000 Mt of additives toward ending of 2050. With assumption of constant use patterns and projecting present global waste management trends to 2050, 9000 Mt of plastic waste will have undergone recycling, 12,000 Mt incinerated, and 12,000 Mt undergoing discarding in landfills or in the environment [50].…”