Pyrolysis of waste plastic films
Abstract:
The main objective of this project was to create a process that would take an initial feedstock of plastic films from waste facilities and chemically upcycle it to produce more valuable products. The plastic films used have a variety of applications in the industry but present challenges during traditional mechanical recycling. The process selected was the use of pyrolysis to break down the films into olefins, saturate the double bonds to produce paraffins, steam crack the paraffins and separate the useful monomers which can be reused as feedstock for the polymer production process. Specifically, this presentation includes the design of four main units: the pyrolysis reactor, the hydrogenation reactor, the steam cracker, and the combustion reactor to recover heat for the process. Overall, the inlet is 1504 kg/h plastics, and the desired product is 369 kg/h ethylene, and 508kg/h propane and propylene. Propylene and ethylene can be further processed to create more polyethylene after sale. Through economic analysis it was determined that if the capital investment was much lower there would be potential for a positive net present value after the targeted 10 years, but with the current values it would not generate enough revenue even after an extended period of 20 years.
Students:
Laura Sievewright-Johnston, Guoshan Min, Katrina Tsvetanov, Nicole Theuri
