Catalytic conversion of waste low density polyethylene into fuel oil

Abstract

Waste Low density polyethylenes (LDPE) represent a source of energy and valuable<br />chemicals, were pyrolysed catalytically in a batch reactor under atmospheric pressure. Calcium<br />carbide was used as a catalyst to explore its effect on pyrolysis product distribution. The effect of<br />temperature, amount of catalyst and time on the yields of the pyrolysed products was<br />investigated. The effect of catalyst on the liquid yield was also studied. The results demonstrate<br />that temperature has a promising effect on the yield; however high temperature, as well as high<br />catalyst loading, caused a decline in liquid yield. The liquid obtained from catalytic pyrolysis<br />were also characterized by physical and chemical tests. Among the physical tests Density,<br />Specific gravity, API gravity, Viscosity, Kinematic viscosity, Aniline point, Flash point, Watson<br />Characterization Constant, Freezing Point, Diesel Index, Refractive Index, Gross calorific value,<br />Net calorific value and ASTM Distillation were determined according to IP and ASTM standard<br />methods for fuel values. From the physical tests it was observed that the results for the liquid<br />fractions are comparable with the standard results of physical tests for gasoline, kerosene and<br />diesel fuel oil. Phenols and carbonyls were quantitatively determined by spectrophotometric<br />methods using Folin-Denis and Phenyl Hydrazine reagents respectively. The components of<br />different hydrocarbons in the oil mixture were separated by using column chromatography and<br />fractional distillation followed by characterization with FT-IR spectroscopy.