Low cost method for fuel production from Plastic waste

Savitha K.U

doi:10.37591/joaest.v12i3.6306

Abstract

There is a huge problem of plastic waste remaining bulbous, eventhough many solutions are put forth. The production of synthetic plastic has reached 400 million tons worldwide, from which 50% is thrown in landfills or recycled; 15 million tons reach seas and oceans.Inceneration and other waste management methods have many limitations, which includes hazards of secondary pollutants. And moreover, there is no more land filling space for waste accumulation. Land filling contaminates soil and water, and also affects wildlife. Hence,this study focuses on combining several synthetic polymer matrices of waste plastics with palm oil and testing it to blend with diesel. There are several studies on fuel generation from plastic waste pyrolysis, and the novelty of the current work lies in the lowering the cost. Here complete pyrolysis is not done, but controlled heating in nitrogen atmosphere. The liberation of gas is minimized by use of palm oil which act a solvent medium for some volatile organics.The flash point and fire point of the resultant fuel was very high when compared to desiel. The calorific value was 39,423.3132KJ/Kg which was a comparable with other biodiesels. Sulphur content was 20 ppm for pyrolysis liquid which increased on blending. After SIMDIST GC analysis it was concluded that there lies potentiality to process pyrolysis liquid from plastics