157
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Thermal and Catalytic Pyrolysis of Real Plastic Solid Waste as a Sustainable Strategy for Circular Economy

, , , , , & show all
Pages 3426-3439 | Received 04 May 2023, Accepted 11 May 2023, Published online: 27 Jul 2023
 

ABSTRACT

The management of plastic waste is a serious environmental problem, therefore numerous strategies have been explored to reuse/recover these materials, avoiding their disposal in landfills. In particular, research has focused on thermochemical conversion processes and especially on pyrolysis processes. Therefore, in this study, a real Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) from COREPLA (Italian national consortium for collection, recycling, and recovery of plastic packaging), deprived of PET, PVC, and PTFE was used as feedstock for batch thermal and catalytic pyrolysis tests. The experiments were performed in a micro-reactor under nitrogen flow, using ɣ-alumina as catalyst. The effects of a variation in pyrolysis temperature (450–650°C) on the gaseous, condensable, and solid products were assessed. The thermal and catalytic pyrolysis tests of LDPE at 550°C were also investigated, as a representative surrogate of the plastics materials found in PSW. Preliminary results highlight that gas and condensate yields increase with pyrolysis temperature (with or without γ–alumina). The condensate products of all experiments were an oily wax made up mainly of long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons (mostly diesel-like fraction, C12-C20). The qualitative composition of gaseous and condensable products differs between thermal and catalytic tests. However, the alumina leads to a higher formation of aromatic hydrocarbons.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the financial support of COREPLA (Italian National Consortium for the collection, recycling, and recovery of plastic packaging). Dr G. Pirozzi is gratefully acknowledged for her assistance during the experimental campaign.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00102202.2023.2239449

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.