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“POLYFUEL - Thermolysis of waste plastics to produce liquid fuel”

Conference Paper · August 2015

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Y. P. Chauhan
Government Polytechnic, Miraj
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 Polyfuel - “Thermolysis of waste plastic to produce liquid fuel”

Y.P.Chauhan* (AM093927-5), G. H. More1, C. R. Mane1, T. Y. Salunkhe1, D. D. Shinde1

*
Lecturer in Plastic & Polymer, 1Diploma students, Plastic Engineering
Department of Plastic Engineering, Government Polytechnic, Miraj.

Dist. Sangli-416410, Maharashtra State, INDIA.

Abstract

This work is the small attempt towards the plastic waste management conducted at

government polytechnic Miraj in the department of plastic engineering. Polyfuel means the

fuel from plastics. We have performed some experiments for conversion of plastic waste into

liquid fuel. We have examined the different plastic waste like PET as well as LDPE for our

experiments with and without catalyst and found that LDPE shows the good conversion into

liquid fuel when fly ash is used as a catalyst. The fuel conversion found up to 55% for LDPE.

We used readymade pressure cooker of 9 litre capacity for this experiment as a reactor. The

copper coiled condenser is fabricated for condensing the generated gases. We found 220 ml

of fuel from 400 grams of waste LDPE at reaction temperature of 2900C. The source of waste

LDPE is the milk pouches treated as the waste after utilisation of the milk. The fuel analysis

shows that the specific gravity at 28 0C is 0.7616, density at 280C is 0.71 gram/ml, net

calorific value is 9850 kcal/kg, flash point is 150C, pour point is 90C, cloud point is 120C,

aniline point is 70C, octane number is 76 and moisture content is 0.08%.

Keywords: Polyfuel, Thermolysis, plastic waste, LDPE.

Email for correspondence: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Now a day’s plastic becomes an important part of our daily life. Starting from the

morning tooth brush to night dinner plates, everywhere we found the things made by plastics.

It produced on a large scale worldwide and its production crosses the 150 million tonnes per

year globally. As per the CPCB report India generates 5.6 million tonnes of plastic waste

annually. The shopping and garbage bags, packaging films, fluid containers, clothing, toys,

furniture, material wrapping, beverage bottles, household and industrial products etc. are

some applications of the plastics. Due to huge applications of plastics, the waste generation

from plastic is also huge.

The recycling rate of the waste plastic generated in industries is high but the

municipal plastic waste recycling is very low. Some municipal corporations are started the

recycling of plastics in Maharashtra. They convert plastic waste into fuel. One of the

industries in Pune, Rudra Environmental Solution (India) Ltd. started the manufacturing of

the plants for plastic recycling to convert the plastic waste into fuel. Pune Muncipal

Corporation started one of such type of plant in Dhankewadi ward in Pune. This plant

converts 9000 kg of plastic a month into 5400 litre fuel.

Plastics are relatively cheaper and being easily available so it has brought

about use and throwaway culture in our society. As the plastic has non-degradable in nature,

plastic waste management becomes a worldwide problem. As the land filling sites allotted for

plastic waste disposal approaching their full capacity, the recycling of plastic waste becomes

necessary.

Being a department of plastic engineering at Government Polytechnic, Miraj, we

thought to try the conversion of plastic waste into fuel. For that we have examined the

different plastic waste like PET bottles as well as LDPE from milk pouches for our
experiments with and without catalyst and found that LDPE shows the good conversion into

liquid fuel when fly ash is used as a catalyst.

2. Fuel demand

India's dependence on imported fossil fuels rose to 38% in 2012, despite the country

having significant domestic fossil fuel resources. India ranked as the fourth-largest energy

consumer in the world in 2011, following China, the United States, and Russia. The country's

energy demand continues to climb as a result of its dynamic economic growth and

modernization. India is the third-largest economy on a purchasing power parity basis and has

the world's second-largest population, according to World Bank data. [2]

In 2013, India was the fourth-largest consumer and net importer of crude oil and

petroleum products in the world after the United States, China, and Japan. India's petroleum

product demand reached nearly 3.7 million barrels per day (bbl/d), far above the country's

roughly 1 million bbl/d of total liquids production. Most of India's demand is for motor

gasoline which is used mainly in the transportation and industrial sectors. Insufficient

investment in developing more crude oil and liquids production has caused production to

grow at a slower rate than oil demand. [2]

Net oil import dependency rose from 43% in 1990 to an estimated 71% in 2012. The

Middle East was the major source of crude oil supply to India in 2013, followed by countries

in the Americas (mostly Venezuela) and Africa. Fig. 1 shows the India’s production and

consumption of the petroleum fuel. [2]

Fig.1. India’s production and consumption of the petroleum fuel.

Conventional sources of the fuel are limited and in future we have to depend on the

alternate fuels like bio fuels, ethanol and fuels from the other resources for our survival.

Polyfuel is one of the alternative sources for the conventional fuels. Hence we have tried to

make the fuel from plastic waste as the generation of waste plastic is very large.

3. Experimental Methods

The experiments are conducted by taking the known amount of plastic waste

and coal fly ash (CFA) as a catalyst in a reactor. Heat is supplied to the reactor by heating

source. After reaching the reactor temperature up to 1600C, vapours starts to generate in the

reactor and it continues to generate as the reactor temperature increases. The generated

vapours are condensed in the condenser. The condensed product is collected in the conical

flask. This condensed product is called as a Polyfuel

3.1. Reactor

It is a mild steel 09 lit capacity pressure cooker purchased from the market

having the dimensions as, Height: 270 mm, internal diameter: 200 mm, outer diameter: 220

mm. The provision for passing the generated vapours from the reactor to the condenser is

made by welding the half inch diameter GI pipe with top cover of the reactor. The provision

for pressure gauge mounting is made on the top cover and pressure gauge is fitted in it for

measurement of reactor pressure. Thermowell is provided for inserting the

thermocouple/thermometer for measurement of the reactor temperature. The provision of

safety valve for the reactor is also made. The reactor which was fabricated is shown in the

fig.2.

Fig.2. Mild steel reactor.

3.2 Condenser

Condenser is used for converting the plastic vapours in to the Polyfuel. Coiled

condenser is used for this experiment in which copper coil is having 5 mm diameter and 1

mm thickness inserted in to the water bath of carbon steel. The fabricated coiled condenser is

shown in fig.3.

Fig.3. Copper tube coiled condenser

3.3 Heating media

For this purpose electrical coil heater of rating 1.5 KW is used to provide the thermal

energy required for the cracking of the plastic molecules present inside the reactor. The

heater shown in the following figure uses electric resistance as a heating source which is

purchased from the market.

Fig.4. Electric coil heater and wood burning stove.

3.4. Connecting pipe and safety valve

The escape of vapours from the reactor to the condenser was made by the half inch

diameter GI pipe. Also the safety valve is provided at the top cover of the reactor to release

the excess pressure to avoid the bursting of the reactor due to high pressure.

Fig.5. Connecting pipe and safety valve.

3.5. Condensate collector

After condensation process the obtained liquid fuel is collected in conical flask used

as a condensate collector as shown in figure 6. This collector size or volume depended upon

volume of production.
Fig.6. Collector. (Conical flask and PET bottle)

3.6. Temperature sensor

Mercury thermometer is used to determine the temperature of the reactor. The

temperature range of the thermometer is from 00C to 3600C.

Fig.7. Mercury Thermometer.

3.7. Catalyst Used

To get the fast cracking of the plastic waste molecules the catalyst used in this study

was the coal fly ash. Coal fly ash contains about 70 % of aluminium and silica in the form of

Al2O3 and SiO2 which acts as a catalyst by providing a large surface area on which the waste

plastic molecules can sit and so be exposed to high temperature inside the reactor, which

breaks them apart resulting in the vapour generation.

4. Experimental Procedure

Experiments are conducted by taking known amount of plastic waste and the catalyst

at moderate reactor temperature. The vapours generated from the reactor are condensed in the

coiled condenser and the condensate i.e. liquid fuel is stored in the plastic bottle. Fig. 8

shows the experimental set up for production of fuel from plastic waste.

Fig.8. Experimental setup for production of fuel from plastic waste.

To confirm the production of the liquid fuel initially we have performed the
trial experiment by raw method on waste PET without catalyst. In this method first we feed
about 500 grams shredded waste PET bottle material into the reactor (shown in following
figure) and started the heating. After reaching the temperature about 2700C, fumes are started
to come out from the pipe. These fumes are collected in the plastic bottle which is immersed
in the water bath. These fumes get condensed in liquid but the amount of the condensate is
very less approximately 2-3 ml. From this trial experiment we confirmed that the plastic
waste can be converted into liquid fuel. Fig. 8 shows the experimental setup for trial
experiment.

Fig.9. Experimental setup for trial experiment and shredded pet bottle.
 After confirming the fuel from plastic waste, we conducted the final experiment on

well designed experimental setup. The experimental setup used for this purpose is as

explained earlier shown in fig. 8. In this case, we are collected the waste LDPE as the milk

pouches treated as the waste after utilisation of the milk. After collection, washing of milk

pouches is done by detergent and plenty of water to remove the contamination. After washing

it is dried in the sun for removal of water. Then these LDPE milk pouches are cut into small

pieces to increase the surface area for the reaction. We used 400 grams of this LDPE milk

pouches for this experiment.

Experiment is started by taking the waste LDPE milk pouches weighing 400 grams in

the reactor. 25 grams of coal fly ash as a catalyst is added in the reactor. Heating is started to

melt and crack the plastic waste present in the reactor. When temperature reaches above

1150C, the waste LDPE starts to melt. After reaching the temperature up to 1600C, the vapour

generation has been started. Increase in temperature started gradually by applying the extra

heat from 1600C to 2900C in the time span of 30 minutes. The first drop of condensate is

observed when the reactor temperature reaches to the 1700C. From 1700C to 2500C

temperature range nearly 30 % fuel has been collected. When temperature reaches up to

2800C, the fuel collection rate increases and we get another 40% of liquid fuel. Remaining

fuel is collected when temperature reaches up to 2900C. We have collected total 220 ml of

liquid fuel from 400 grams of LDPE milk pouches which shows the conversion efficiency of

55% of that plastic waste.

5. Results and Discussion

5.1. Physical Testing:-

Appearance of the liquid fuel is viscous liquid with brownish colour with odour like

mint. Flammability of fuel has been checked by taking this fuel on wooden stick and applying
the fire to it. It is observed that fire catches immediately without any leftover residue. Fig. 10

shows the fuel product.

Fig.10. Liquid fuel product.

5.2. Analytical Testing:-

Results of the analytical testing of liquid fuel produced from the waste LDPE milk

pouches are summarised in the table1. The analytical testing is done at NIKHIL Analytical &

Research Pvt. Ltd., Near New Railway Godown, Sahyadri Nagar, Sangli – 416416,

Maharashtra (India). The density and viscosity of the fuel has been measured at our Plastic

Engineering Department laboratory by specific gravity bottle and Ostwald’s viscometer

respectively.

Table.1. Results of analytical testing of liquid fuel.

Sr. No. Specifications Fuel from Plastic Waste

1 Specific gravity 0.7616

2 Density 0.71 gram/ml

3 Viscosity 1.042 cP

4 Calorific value 9850 kcal/kg

5 Flash point 150C

6 Pour point 90C

7 Cloud point 120C

8 Aniline point 70C

9 Octane number 76

10 Moisture content 0.08 %

From analytical testing it was observed that all the properties are in the range and

comparable with the regular diesel.

5.3. Time - Temperature Behaviour:-

Temperature behaviour of the reactor with respect to time is shown in fig. 11. It is

observed that at initial stage of 35 minutes, reactor temperature shows 1150C and the waste

plastic present in the reactor starts to melt. At 1200C and above temperature the waste plastic

melts completely and when temperature reaches to 1600C, it starts to crack the molecules

resulting in the vapour generation. Maximum vapours are generated in the range of 2000C to

2900C.

350

300
y = 2.8236x + 13.436
250 R² = 0.9651
Temp.0C

200

150

100

50

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (min)

Fig. 11. Time temperature graph for Thermolysis.

5.4. Residue generated.

After end of the experiment, the residue generated is like a tar which is
shown in the fig. 12. It is solid black in nature having 30 % of the total feed charged in the
reactor. This residue (tar) can be used in road making process because it has a good strength.

Fig.12. Residue.

6. Conclusion.

Conversion of waste plastic into liquid fuel can solve the problem of plastic waste

recycling and the shortage of liquid fuel in developing countries like India. Thermal

degradation of plastic can be done easily with economic means. The yield of the product can

be increased by varying the process parameters like temperature, pressure, catalyst amount

etc. The fuel produced in this study was found the properties comparable to the regular diesel

fuel used in automobiles. So it can be concluded that the “Polyfuel” may be an alternative

fuel of the future. The residue produced can be used in road making process, As no waste

generated during the process, it can be called as zero discharge process or green process

which avoids the pollution.

7. Future study.

To produce the Polyfuel in large quantity say up to 5 to 10 litres and to run the diesel

engine for studying the exhaust gas analysis.

8. Acknowledgement.

We are thankful to HOD, plastic engineering department and the Principal,

Government Polytechnic, Miraj for their time to time support during the project work. We are

also thankful to Mr. N.L.Phadke, Lecturer in Plastic Engineering, Mr. G.K.Dongare,

laboratory assistant, plastic engineering department, Mr. Dabade, welder, workshop of

government polytechnic and all those staff of our college who are helped directly and

indirectly to complete this project successfully.

References.

1. . Gaurav, Madhukar M, Arunkumar K.N., Lingegowda N.S., “Conversion of LDPE plastic

waste into liquid fuel by thermal degradation”, International Journal of Mechanical and

Production Engineering, Vol.2, Issue 4, April-2014.

2. U. S. Energy Information Administration Report dated August 14, 2014.

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from plastic by de-polymerization technique as an alternative fuel”, International Journal of

Applied Engineering and Research, Vol. 8, No. 19, 2013.

4. Antony Raja and Advaith Murli, “Conversion of Plastic Wastes into Fuels”, Journal of

Material Science and Engineering B 1 (2011) 86-89.

5. S. L. Low, M. A. Connor and G. H. Covey, “Turning mixed plastic into a useable liquid

fuel”, 6th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, Melbourne, Australia, 23-27 September

2001.
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Journal of Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication, Vol.2, Issue 4,

April 2014.

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Pyrolysis of waste plastic to produce liquid hydrocarbons”, Advances in Polymer Science and

Technology: An International Journal 2013; 3 (1): 14-18.

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