Synthesis of Petroleum-Based Fuel from Waste Plastics and Performance Analysis in a CI Engine

The present work involves the synthesis of a petroleum-based fuel by the catalytic pyrolysis of waste plastics. Catalytic pyrolysis involves the degradation of the polymeric materials by heating them in the absence of oxygen and in the presence of a catalyst. In the present study different oil samples are produced using different catalysts under different reaction conditions from waste plastics. The synthesized oil samples are subjected to a parametric study based on the oil yield, selectivity of the oil, fuel properties, and reaction temperature. Depending on the results from the above study, an optimization of the catalyst and reaction conditions was done. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the selected optimized sample was done to find out its chemical composition. Finally, performance analysis of the selected oil sample was carried out on a compression ignition (CI) engine. Polythene bags are selected as the source of waste plastics. The catalysts used for the study include silica, alumina, Y zeolite, barium carbonate, zeolite, and their combinations. The pyrolysis reaction was carried at polymer to catalyst ratio of 10？:？1. The reaction temperature ranges between 400°C and 550°C. The inert atmosphere for the pyrolysis was provided by using nitrogen as a carrier gas. 1. Introduction In the recent years it is quite common to find in newspapers and publications that plastics are turning out to be a menace. Days are not so far when earth will be completely covered with plastics and humans will be living over it. All the reasoning and arguments for and against plastics finally land up on the fact that plastics are nonbiodegradable in nature. The disposal and decomposition of plastics has been an issue which has caused a number of research works to be carried out in this regard. Currently the disposal methods employed are land filling, mechanical recycling, biological recycling, thermal recycling, and chemical recycling. Of these methods, chemical recycling is a research field which is gaining much interest recently, as it turns out to be that the products formed in this method are highly advantageous. Plastic is one such commodity that has been so extensively used and is sometimes referred to as one of the greatest innovations of the millennium. There are a numerous ways in which plastic is and will continue to be used. The plastic has achieved such an extensive market due to fact that it is lightweight, cheap, flexible, reusable, do not rust or rot, and so forth. Because of this, plastics production has gone up by almost 10% every year on a global