Characteristics of fractionated drop-in liquid fuel of plastic wastes from a commercial pyrolysis plant

Pyrolysis is a waste conversion technology to solve an increasing plastic waste issue worldwide. Waste plastic pyrolysis fuel from a commercial-scale pyrolysis plant (10 ton/day) was comprehensively investigated using distillation methods by separating the crude pyrolysis fuel to isolate the diesel-like pyrolysis fuel fraction (C-9-C-25 for fraction 2 + fraction 3, middle distillate). Other fractions were C-5-C-10 for the light distillate (fraction 1), and >C-25 for the heavy distillate (fraction 4). The relationship between the fuel boiling point and liquid vapor temperature were found for designing a scaled-up oil separation process. The diesel grade pyrolysis fuel fraction comprised approximately 70-80% of the crude pyrolysis fuel, wherein it had values of 43-45 MJ/kg, 1-6 cSt, and 12-42 mg(KOH)/g(oil). Meanwhile, the elemental ratios of the crude pyrolysis oil improved to 0.1 for O/C and 1.9 for H/C after separation, close to petroleum fuels (0.0 O/C and 1.95 H/C). The highest relative chemical composition was the olefins (46% in fraction 1 and 41% in fraction 2), whereas the paraffin was approximately 15-20% in the light fraction. Finally, the potential CO2 reduction for the plastic waste-to-energy process was evaluated, revealing that a total of 0.26 tCO(2)/ton(waste) of emissions could be avoided during the waste plastic pyrolysis process. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Pyrolysis is an effective waste conversion technology to address the global plastic waste issue, with a focus on diesel-grade pyrolysis fuel that has high calorific value and low viscosity, similar to petroleum fuels. After the oil separation process, the chemical composition of the fuel is improved, leading to reduced CO2 emissions.