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Enhanced Oil Yield by Catalytic Pyrolysis of Thermoplastics Using Cost-Effective Spent FCC and BaCO3 and Its Valorization to Gasoline and Diesel Grade Fuel via Fractionation

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Abstract

In this work, the fossil fuel-based thermoplastics, i.e., low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were pyrolyzed at 450 °C, 500 °C, and 550 °C thermally and catalytically to enhance the oil yield and further enrichment via fractionation. In the catalytic process, spent FCC (sFCC) and low-cost BaCO3 with 10 wt% loading were used in a semi-batch quartz reactor. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) were carried out at 10 °C/min for LDPE, PP, and PS to analyze the degradation behavior. Among the used catalysts, the sFCC gives higher oil yield than BaCO3 under identical conditions. The LDPE oil yield obtained was 55.5% and 35.7% for sFCC and BaCO3, respectively. Similar trends were observed for PP (80.0% and 70.0%) and PS (98.0% and 95.0%). Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis revealed that product oil composition obtained for sFCC-catalyzed pyrolysis process was majorly in the gasoline range (C6–C12) whereas for BaCO3 enabled pyrolysis in the diesel range (C13–C18). Plausible acid and base-catalyzed reaction mechanism and product formation are discussed for catalytic pyrolysis of PP. Fractionation of pyrolysis oil was performed at 150 °C, 250 °C, and 350 °C and physiochemical properties as well as the visual inspection of resulting fractions were carried out as per ASTM methods. Overall, this work represents the utilization of sFCC and low-cost BaCO3 catalyst to convert plastic waste into promising fuel.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Materials Research Centre, MNIT Jaipur, and Central Analytical Facility, Manipal University Jaipur for the characterization facilities.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support was received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, 302017, India

    Prathwiraj Meena, Surabhi Singh, Virendra Kumar Saharan, Suja George & Rohidas Bhoi

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Manipal University, Jaipur, 303007, India

    Manisha Sharma

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  1. Prathwiraj Meena
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Contributions

Prathwiraj Meena: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, validation, visualization, writing—original draft, writing—review, and editing. Surabhi Singh: sample preparation, data curation, and writing. Manisha Sharma: formal analysis. Virendra Kumar Saharan: data interpretation and data curation. Suja George: conceptualization, review, and editing. Rohidas Bhoi: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, supervision, validation, resources mobility, writing -review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Rohidas Bhoi.

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Meena, P., Singh, S., Sharma, M. et al. Enhanced Oil Yield by Catalytic Pyrolysis of Thermoplastics Using Cost-Effective Spent FCC and BaCO3 and Its Valorization to Gasoline and Diesel Grade Fuel via Fractionation. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 41, 1055–1075 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-024-00041-4

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