Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Conversion of Marine Plastic Litter into Chemicals and Fuels through Catalytic Pyrolysis Using Commercial and Coal Fly Ash-Synthesized Zeolites

TitleConversion of Marine Plastic Litter into Chemicals and Fuels through Catalytic Pyrolysis Using Commercial and Coal Fly Ash-Synthesized Zeolites
Publication TypeArticolo su Rivista peer-reviewed
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsCocchi, Marco, Cafiero Lorenzo M., De Angelis Doina, Falasconi Maria Beatrice, Piemonte Vincenzo, Tuffi Riccardo, and Ciprioti Stefano Vecchio
JournalACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Type of ArticleArticle
ISSN21680485
Abstract

A marine plastic litter (MPL) sample, collected during a beach cleanup campaign, underwent thermal and catalytic pyrolyses to demonstrate that valuable hydrocarbon oil and gas can be produced from heterogeneous plastic waste, partly aged and not mechanically recyclable. A low-cost H-X zeolite lab synthesized from coal fly ash (CFA) was tested and compared with two commercial zeolites (H-USY and H-ZSM-5) commonly used in the industrial cracking field. MPL characterization revealed it is mainly composed of polyethylene and polypropylene (52 and 45 wt %, respectively), and it has ideal physicochemical properties as feed for pyrolysis processes. Thermogravimetric analyses demonstrated that catalysts can reduce the degradation temperature of MPL from 472 to 425 °C and from 450 to 421, 342, and 380 °C for H-ZSM-5, H-X/CFA, and H-USY, respectively. These results were confirmed by thermal and catalytic pyrolyses tests performed in a bench-scale reactor. All the catalytic tests were carried out at 450 °C with a liquid phase contact mode. In particular, H-X/CFA, avoiding tar and wax formation, produced up to 87 wt % of light oil with a high content of short chain aliphatic hydrocarbons, obtaining results very similar to those gained with the expensive commercial H-USY. For all the catalytic pyrolysis tests, the produced gases proved to be more than sufficient to sustain the process heat requirement. © 2023 American Chemical Society.

Notes

Cited by: 0

URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85148911080&doi=10.1021%2facssuschemeng.2c06130&partnerID=40&md5=74f7ce80ca500f96509d2c6f9d0bdbcd
DOI10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c06130
Citation KeyCocchi2022