PLASTIC WASTE TO FUELS

BACKGROUND______________________________________________________________________ ______

We, humans, are living in a world, where we are looking for more natural resources for our flexible
life. In this process, more limited natural resources are getting drastically used, which may get empty
after some very few years. When it comes to fuel (fossil energy) which takes a million years to form,
are used with no control. These Fossil fuels are formed when the organic matter that has been buried
deep within the earth’s crust is subjected to heat (1,000–1,200 °C) and pressure over millions of years
converts organic matter into either coal, natural gas, oil, and so, the usage of fuel stated on early
industrial revolution (the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840) where these
fuels used for the industrial purpose (coal), motor vehicles (diesel, petrol), planes (jet fuel, white
gasoline). We were introduced to renewable energy sources like Solar Energy, Wind Energy,
Hydropower, Tidal Energy, Ocean Thermal Energy, Geothermal Energy, Biomass Energy, Biogas, etc.
which helps us from pollution.

Plastics waste and its effects

Plastic is a cheap and long-lasting hydrocarbon material made from petroleum. Plastics, due to their
low cost, ease of durability, versatility, and imperviousness to water, used in a multitude of products
of different scales, including paper clips and spacecraft.

Approximately 500 billion pounds of new plastic is manufactured each year and in that amount of
plastic, roughly 33% of that is singly used and thrown away. Every year, 7-8 million metric tons of
plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our
marine environments. Most of the useless plastic waste is dumped into the oceans and on land, where
the plastic takes millions of your to get decomposed on soil, which leads to soil pollution and where it
can’t dissolve in water, which leads to water pollution. Because of this plastic, the agricultural
processes are being disturbed and not only agriculture but also disturbs the aquatic life in oceans
where we get 70% of the oxygen from marine life in the oceans. So, we can suggest cleaning our
oceans than planting trees in forests.
Plastic wastes classified into two:
1. Industrial plastic wastes and
2. Municipal plastic wastes.
Industrial plastic wastes (also called primary waste) waste those which are getting collected from
the large plastic manufacturing, processing, and packaging industry.
Municipal plastic wastes are the wastes that we collect discarded materials from household wastes.

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How much Plastic Waste is generated?

Let’s see some of the stats to get the estimation of Generated Plastic wastes in world:

o From the 1950s to 70s, Plastic waste was relatively manageable since plastic production was
less.
o By 1990s, Plastic waste got tripled in the last two decades since rise in plastic production.
o In the early 2000s, Output of Plastic waste rose in one decade more than it rose in previous
40 years.
o Today the average plastic waste production is 300 million tonnes per year. This is nearly
equivalent to weight of the entire human population.
o According to researchers estimation, Around 8.3 billion tonnes plastic waste is generated
since 1950s.

Daily Plastic waste Per Person Per Day.

According to CPCB India, 0.31 million tonnes plastic wastes were produced in 2010-12, 1.6 million
tonnes in 2016-17 and 0.66 million tonnes in 2017-18. And according to it, India is generating 26000
tonnes of Plastic waste every day.

What are the Different Types of Plastics?

Plastic is been one of the essential for mankind's needs. There are different types of plastics that we
use in our daily life. Generally, there are seven types of plastics, since these are different they are
represented with The Society of the Plastics Industry codes (SPI) which helps us to get more
information about what kind of plastic it is and can be decided whether the plastic is recyclable or not.

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TYPES OF PLASTIC:

1. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET)

2. High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

3. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

4. Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

5. Polypropylene (PP)

6. Polystyrene or Styrofoam (PS)

7. Miscellaneous plastics.

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET):

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is a thermoplastic polymer which belongs to the polyester
family of polymers. Polyester pastes are known for their excellent combination of properties such as
thermal, mechanical, chemical resistance as well as dimensional stability. These plastics are being so
important in our routine life. We can find this type of plastics around us as a water bottle or soda
bottle container. It is good usable plastic because of its no.1 recyclable polymer nature that ever sees
throughout the world.

Molecular Structure of Polyethylene Terephthalate

PET Chemical Formula: (C10H8O4)n

High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE):

HDPE or PEDE (polyethylene high-density) is a thermoplastic polymer produced from the monomer
ethylene. The density of HDPE can range from 930 to 970 kg/m3. it is used in the production of plastic
bottles, corrosion-resistant piping, geomembranes, and plastic lumber.

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Like many other plastics, HDPE often replaces heavier materials, in part because our society and many
companies are pursuing sustainability goals, such as reducing the amount of material used in
packaging and products. “Lightweight and strong” can translate into “less impact on the environment.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC):

It is a high strength thermoplastic material widely used in applications such as pipes, medical devices,
wire, and cable insulation and so. It is the world’s 3rd most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer.
This is widely used in the building and construction industry to produce door and window profiles etc.

It is a white, brittle solid material available in powder form or granules. Due to its versatile properties,
such as lightweight, durable, low cost and easy processability, PVC is now replacing traditional building
materials like wood, metal, concrete, rubber, ceramics, etc. in several applications.

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE):

In LPDE, the polymer strands are entangled and loosely organized, so it’s soft and flexible. At first,
these are used to insulate electrical wires, but today it’s used in films, wraps, bottles, disposable
gloves, and garbage bags. LDPE is widely used for manufacturing various containers, dispensing
bottles, wash bottles, tubing, plastic parts for computer components, and various molded laboratory
equipment. Its most common use is in plastic bags. Other products like trays and general-purpose
containers, corrosion-resistant work surface, parts that are needed for weldable and so.

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Polypropylene (PP): Polypropylene (PP) is a rigid and crystalline thermoplastic used widely in everyday
objects like packaging trays, household products, battery cases, medical devices, etc.

Polypropylene is a tough, rigid and crystalline thermoplastic produced from propene (or propylene)
monomer. It is a linear hydrocarbon resin. The chemical formula of polypropylene is (C3H6)n. PP is
among the cheapest plastics available today.

Molecular Structure of Polypropylene

Polystyrene (PS):

Polystyrene is a versatile plastic used to make a wide variety of consumer products. As a hard, solid
plastic, it is often used in products that require clarity, such as food packaging and laboratory ware.
When combined with various colorants, additives or other plastics, polystyrene is used to make
appliances, electronics, automobile parts, toys, gardening pots and equipment and more.

Polystyrene also is made into a foam material, called expanded polystyrene (EPS) or extruded
polystyrene (XPS), which is valued for its insulating and cushioning properties.

(C8H8)n

Miscellaneous plastics:

This includes polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass, and
nylon. These plastics are available in a variety of colors, both opaque and transparent and possess
excellent insulating property, so used as electrical insulators. These plastics are clean, light and
shining, so they need not be given any finishing.

These types of plastics are hard to recycle and contain the toxic chemical BPA, a dangerous hormone
disruptor that can cause health problems.

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What are Microplastics?

These are very small pieces of plastic that pollute the environment. these are not a specific kind of
plastics but these are the plastic material which is fragments of plastic which are having length <=5.0
mm according to U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These kinds of
plastics are originated in different ways like from an industrial process, plastic waste and so.

Microplastics are basically of two types 1. Primary microplastic 2. Secondary microplastic.

Primary microplastics are kind of plastics where plastic fragments or particles are already 5.0mm in
size or less before entering the environment. microfibers from clothing, microbeads and plastic pellets
come under primary microplastics.

Secondary microplastics are microplastics that are created from the degradation of larger plastic
products once they enter the environment through natural weathering processes. Things like water
and soda bottles, fishing nets, and plastic bags will come under this secondary microplastic.

How Plastics are Produced?

The term “Plastics” includes materials composed of various elements such as carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, hydrogen and chlorine, etc.
Plastics are derived from natural organic materials coal, cellulose, natural gas, salt and crude oil. Crude
oil is a mixture of thousands of compounds and needs to be processed before it can be used.
The production of plastics starts with the distillation of crude oil in an oil refinery. This separates heavy
crude oil components to the lighter ones called fractions. Each fraction is a long chain of hydrocarbon
which differs in size and structure of their molecules. Naptha, one of the crucial compound for the
production of Plastic.

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Plastics are derived using this process:

1. Extraction of Raw Materials : Such as Crude Oil, Coal, Cellulose, natural gas and salt.
2. Refining Process: As already discussed, This process separates heavy crude oil components to
the lighter ones called fractions. Each fraction is a long chain of hydrocarbon which differs in
size and structure of their molecules.
3. Polymerisation: It is a process in the petroleum industry where light olefin gases (gasoline)
such as ethylene, propylene, butylene (i.e., monomers) are converted into higher molecular
weight hydrocarbons (polymers).In other words, It is a process of reacting monomer
molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional
networks. There are two different mechanisms for polymerisation:
3.1 Addition Polymerisation
It is a type of polymerisation in which one monomer connects to next one and
then it connects to next one and so on.
3.2 Condensation Polymerisation
It is a process of joining two or more monomers.
4. Compounding/Processing: In compounding, various blends of materials are melt and mixed
to make formulations for plastics using extruder. It is followed by pelletising the mixture. Then
it transforms these pellets to semi-finished or finished products.

What kind of plastic can be processed?

If we use pure hydrocarbons, like polyethylene and

polypropylene, are they only arranged in long chains, if we chop
those chains into shorter ones, we get oil, if we chop them again
even shorter, we get diesel. If we chop them again we get gasoline
and burnable gas without polluting the environment. But burn
PVC and large amounts of gases and chlorine will cause the reactor and pollute the environment. If
we burn PETE, it releases oxygen into the oxygen-free chamber then slows the process. HDPE and
LDPE type of plastic is also basically polyethylene, so usable to convert fuel by heating as well if we
use this type of plastic converted to fuel, but this fuel is more polluting. But we can convert HDPE type
of fuel to clean fuel by additional processing such as a catalyst.

As if you see the plastic is a hydrocarbon that made using petroleum which is a long carbon and
hydrogen chains( ex: polyethylene). These hydrocarbons mixed with a the catalyst that helps the
process to speed up while breaking carbon-carbon double bonds and forms the alkanes(methane,
propane, and, butane, and so). By these chemical calculations from scientists, they came to know that
they got 56% of fuel products namely diesel. So, after these processes, we can reuse the used catalysts.

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 If we observe and study the current news that there are currently 4-5 trillion pieces of plastic waste
in the world’s oceans.

We can recycle plastic,

So, Why don’t we reuse them?

Many developed countries throughout the world like America, UK have been initiated this process by
converting polystyrene into biofuels. These type of methods are essential to start, which leads to
employment, can decrease ocean pollution from plastic, a kind of eco-friendly process.

BY-PRODUCTS OF PLASTIC WASTE:

After the processes of conversion of plastic waste to fuel, the by-products like gases, ashes can be
used as fuel and agriculture products. The gas is released as this process is flammable and also can be
used as fuel. The powder that left after all methods used in agricultural fields as fertilizer. So, we can
say that in this process of conversion of plastic waste to fuels is a 100% useful and efficient process.
And This is why this topic (Plastic waste to fuels) is important mankind.

LITERATURE_______________________________________________________________________________________

What is the need for research?

The present rate of Economic growth is unsustainable without the saving of fossil fuels like crude oil,
natural gas or coal. Thus, mankind has to totally rely on renewable energy sources like hydropower,
biomass, wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, etc. On the other hand, suitable waste
management is also one of the important aspects of sustainable development. The growth of the
population has increased in the past few decades and hence the needs and hence it has brought
about a huge increase in the production of all kinds of commodities which indirectly generates a
huge amount of waste. Plastics have been one of the materials with the fastest growth due to their
versatility, durability, and lightweight. It leads to a huge amount of Plastic waste disposal. Recycling
of Plastic waste is a challenging task. A common problem in recycling plastics is that plastics are
often made up of more than one kind of polymer or there may be some sort of fiber added to the
plastics to give it extra strength. Hence, here comes the need for research in this field to find ways
that can be implemented to make proper use of the Plastics wastes. Some of the famous and
efficient researches were based on the conversion of Plastic waste to fuels.

There are many kinds of research happened and are happening in the field of plastic waste
management. They have some advantages and even disadvantages. Out of all the researches, most
of the researches are based on the method of Pyrolysis and Thermolysis. Some of those best
researches are discussed below:

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Akinori Ito, A Japanese inventor has invented a household appliance that converts Plastic Bags into
fuels.

How does it work?

The machine uses the method of pyrolysis which is the thermal decomposition of materials at a
particular temperature in an inert atmosphere. The process begins with the heating of the
plastics at about 427° C in the chamber with very low oxygen content which converts plastic
materials into liquid form. Then the liquid form is transformed into gaseous form and the gases
produced are trapped and allowed to cool. Gases condense when cooled and form crude oil. The
crude oil formed at the end is a mixture of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and heavy oil.

Features of machine

It can process different types of plastics such as polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene
without producing any toxic substances. However, it is unable to process PET (Polyethylene
Terephthalate) bottles.

Jayme Navarro, a Filipino inventor has discovered a way to convert plastic trash into usable fuels.
This also uses a method of pyrolysis.

Navarro and his company, Poly-green technology and Resources, Inc., produces around 1600
liters of fuel from recycling two metric tonnes of plastics daily.
In 2008, his research was awarded the winner of the Outstanding Creative research category by
the department of science and technology.

He created his unique system and has an approved patent right with the Philippine Intellectual
Property office.

Many more scientists have worked and are working on it such as:

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J Walendziewski, M. Steininger has worked on research named “Thermal and catalytic conversion of
waste Polyolefins”.

Waste samples of Plastics such as Polyethylene and Polystyrene were cracked thermally in the
presence of catalysts in a closed chamber. The obtained products were analyzed. It was found
that optimum temperature for pyrolysis is 410-430 C ̊ but the catalyst reduced the temperature
to 390 C
̊ .

Aguado J, Serrano D P, and Escola have worked on research named “Fuels from waste plastics by
thermal and catalytic processes”.

Mani M, Subash C, and Nagarajan G have worked on research named “Performance, emission and
combustion characteristics of a DI Diesel Engine using waste plastic oil”.

Nishida Osami, Fujit Hirotsugu, Harano Wataru, Phang Hai VU, Fukui Tsuyoshi, Saito Hitomi and
Toyoshima Norihiko have worked on research named “Application of Waste Plastic Disposals to
Marine Diesel Engines”.

These inventions or researches were based on the method of thermolysis and Pyrosis. These
processes are explained below.

The plastics are employed for various industrial and domestic purposes, but their disposal has
caused many problems for the environment because these materials take a huge amount of time for
their decomposition.

Many industries came up with the idea of recycling these traditional wastes of plastic to the
petrochemicals as this is done by a process called pyrolysis.

The pyrolysis starts by drying plastics to be processed and it is then shredded into smaller pieces and
is heated in the thermal chamber. It is continuously heated until it boils and produces vapors and
this vapor is passed into the pipes for cooling and distilled out as a liquid, which is chemically the
same as the regular fuel.

The greater benefit of converting this traditional waste of plastic to fuel is that the fuel burns cleaner
because of the lower sulfur content.

This idea is approved for many industrial uses because it not only generates a cleaner fuel but also
gives a solution for the country’s trash disposal problems.

Classification of pyrolysis method:

There are three types of pyrolysis.

1) Slow pyrolysis
2) Fast pyrolysis
3) Flash pyrolysis

Slow pyrolysis is used to modify the solid material, minimizing the oil produced. It occurs at a
temperature of 400-500 degrees Celsius and a heating rate of 10 degrees Celsius.

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Fast pyrolysis

✓ It occurs in moderate to high heating rates (100 C

̊ ) between 400-650 C̊ .
✓ It is the process of rapid thermal decomposition of carboniferous materials in the absence of
oxygen.

Flash pyrolysis

✓ It occurs at high heating rates (7500 degree Celsius) and the heating temperature range
from (700 – 1000 C ̊ )
✓ It is extremely rapid thermal decomposition pyrolysis.
✓ Synthetic fuel by pyrolysis of organic materialistic is not that efficient, by higher efficiency is
achieved. by flash pyrolysis, where finely divide feedstock is quickly heated for less than two
seconds.

There are mainly three methods of Converting Plastic to fuels:

1. Pyrolysis/Thermal Degradation

As already been discussed earlier regarding Pyrolysis, It is a process of thermal degradation of a

Plastic material in the absence of oxygen. Plastic is fed into a cylindrical chamber. The pyrolytic
gases are condensed in a specially designed condenser system to yield a hydrocarbon distillate
comprising straight and branched chain aliphatic, aromatic and cyclic aliphatic, and liquid is
separated using fractional distillation to produce the liquid fuel products. The Plastic is
pyrolyzed at temperature rate of 370 – 420 °C.

Pyrolysis of plastics involves following essential steps:

1. Heating the plastic to a narrow temperature range without much variations.

2. Removal of oxygen from pyrolysis chamber.
3. Managing the by-product before it acts as a thermal insulator and lowers the heat
transfer to the plastic.
4. Condensation and fractionation of the pyrolysis vapors to produce distillate of good
quality and consistency.

There are different types of Pyrolysis process. And these processes are based on different
mechanism discussed below:

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 Mechanism of Thermal Degradation.
Detailed study on the mechanism of thermal degradation of polymers was proposed
by Cullis and Hirshler. The four different mechanisms proposed are:

1) End-chain fragmentation/scission.
2) Random-chain scission/fragmentation.
3) Chain Stripping/Elimination of Side chain.
4) Cross-linking.

Decomposition mainly depends on molecular structure of polymer:

Equations 1 and 2 represents thermal degradation and 3 represents the random

degradation route of pyrolysis of polymers. The 4th type of mechanism which is
Cross-linking mechanism which often occurs in thermosetting plastics upon heating
at high temperature in which two adjacent polymer chains can form a bond resulting
in chain network (High molecular weight Structure).

2. Catalytic Degradation

In this method, a suitable catalyst is used to carry out cracking reaction. The presence of
catalyst lowers the activation energy and reaction temperature and time. Reuse of catalysts and
Use of effective catalysts can optimize this option. It offers the higher cracking ability of plastics
and lower the concentration of solid residue in the product.

Mechanism of Catalytic Degradation.

Singh et al. have investigated on the mechanism of Catalytic Degradation and found
that the presence of catalyst led to the decrease in the activation energy. Different
mechanisms for pyrolysis of plastic proposed by different scientists.
We will discuss the Carbonium ion mechanism of catalytic pyrolysis of polyethylene:

1. Chain Initiation
Initiation may occur on some defected sites of the polymer chains. For example,
an olefinic linkage could be converted into an on-chain carbonium ion by proton
addition:

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 The polymer chain may be broken up through Beta-emission:

Initiation also take place through random hydride-ion abstraction by low-

molecular-weight carbonium ions:

Formed on-chain carbonium ion then undergoes Beta-scission.

2. Depropagation
The molecular weight of the main polymer chains can be reduced through
successive attacks by acidic sites or other carbonium ions and chain cleavage
that yields ingan oligomer fraction. Further, cleavage of this oligomer fraction by
direct ß-emission of carbonium ions leads to gas formation and liquid fraction.

3. Isomerization
The carbonium ion intermediates can undergo rearrangement by hydrogen- or
carbon-atom shifts.

4. Aromatization
Some carbonium ion intermediates can undergo cyclization reactions. An
example is when hydride ion abstraction first takes place on an olefin at a
position several carbons removed from the double bond, this results in
formation of an olefinic carbonium ion:

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 Panda et al. and Sekine, and Fujimoto have proposed a free radical mechanism for
the catalytic degradation of PP using Fe/activated carbon catalyst.

The various steps in catalytic degradation are:

1. Chain Initiation
Random cleavage of the C-C bond of the main chain occurs due to heat to
produce hydrocarbon radicals:

2. Chain Propagation
The hydrocarbon radicals produced in previous step decomposes to produce
lower hydrocarbons such as propylene, followed by ß-scission and abstraction of
Hydrogen radicals from other hydrocarbons to produce a new hydrocarbon
radical:

3. Chain Termination
Recombination or Disproportionation of two radicals:

At reaction temperature lower than 400∘C or a reaction time shorter than 1.0h,
many macromolecular hydrocarbon radicals exist in the reactor, and
recombination occurs readily because these radicals cannot move fast.

3. Gasification

In this process, partial combustion of biomass is carried out to produce charcoal and gas at the
first stage and subsequent reduction of product gases by the charcoal produces Carbon
monoxide and hydrogen. Based on the design of reactor, this process also generates some
methane and other hydrocarbons. Broadly, Gasification can be defined as a process that

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converts organic or fossil fuel based carbonaceous materials into carbon
monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

A gasification system is made up of three fundamental elements:

1) Gasifier which helps in production of combustible gas.
2) Gas clean up system which is required to remove harmful compounds from the combustible
gas.
3) The energy recovery system

Gasification process represents a future alternative to the waste incinerator for the thermal
treatment of homogeneous carbon-based waste and for pre-treated heterogeneous waste.

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Experimental Setup

A lot of research has been done in non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis of plastics which proves that
traditional wastes of plastic can be converted to useful chemical feedstock.

But the product formed can be affected by polymer source that is the type of plastic, the catalysts
used in the process, reaction temperature and reactor type.

=> The source of waste plastics is selected in the form of polythene; it contains a huge percentage of
waste plastic.

=> The catalysts used for the process are silica-alumina, zeolites, titanium chloride.

=> It carried out in the polymers to catalysts ratio of 4:1.

=> Reaction temperature is from 850 C to 450 C.

=> The inert atmosphere is carried by providing the nitrogen.

The setup consists of:

1. Ceramic electric heater.

2. Steel container.
3. Two condensers.
4. Oil Collectors
5. Nitrogen Source

The waste plastic is placed in a steel container and this container is placed inside the heater.

=>The waste plastic is then mixed with a catalyst; before being supplied to the heater. The plastic is
heated for long to avoid the moisture content.

=>Then the nitrogen gas is introduced into the reactor and the pyrolysis reaction occurs under the
anaerobic conditions, the nitrogen gas is introduced to remove oxygen in the reactor.

=> The heating process is started and the temperature controller is set to required operational
temperature.

=>Then the gas mixture is cooled in the condenser. The low boiling fractions of the vapour fraction
will be condensed and be collected in a collector.

=>This collector contains the oil samples; this occurs at a reaction temperature of 400 C – 550 C.

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=> The condensed volatile fraction is finally collected from the collecting tanks and is filtered.

This process can be repeated for different temperatures for various catalysts.

In this above process, Plastic wastes are recycled and reused to develop fuel. The process efficiency
totally depends on the plastic wastes type. Therefore, it became important to discuss the plastic
wastes properties and their types.

What are the limitations of Plastics waste to fuel conversion?

➢ The Products formed by the pyrolysis process which undergo severe conditions of
temperature and pressure may be sometimes deleterious to the environment.

➢ The pyrolysis is a thermal degradation process, the factors which affect this process are the
temperature and pressure in the reactor, coding mechanisms, etc.

➢ Due to this process, there is a higher emission of CO, when the waste plastic is converted to
fuel. These CO emissions are increased when there is an inappropriate cylinder temperature
in the reactor.

➢ The product gases in this process cannot be passed directly into the cabin, without further
treatment as they contain large amounts of CO concentrations.

➢ In this process, there are high emissions of CO at lesser loads than compared to industry
load working engines.

➢ Pyrolysis is also an energy-consuming process more energy has to be put into the treatment
of waste than its actual recovery.

Which Plastic Waste technique is used currently?

The present rate of economic growth cannot bethink to be sustained by relying only on energy got
from crude oil, natural gas or coal. Thus we must have to rely on alternate/renewable energy
sources like biomass, hydropower, geothermal energy, wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy,
etc. On the other hand, a suitable waste management strategy is another important aspect of
sustainable development. The growth of welfare levels in modern society during the past decades
has brought about a huge increase in the production of all kinds of commodities, which indirectly
generate waste. Plastics have been one of the materials with the fastest growth because of their

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wide range of applications due to versatility and relatively low cost. Since the duration of life of
plastic products is relatively small, there is a vast plastics waste stream that reaches each year to the
final recipients creating a serious environmental problem. Again, because disposal of post-consumer
plastics is increasingly being constrained by legislation and escalating costs, there is considerable
demand for alternatives to disposal or landfilling. Advanced research in the field of green chemistry
could yield biodegradable/green polymers but is too limited at this point in time to substitute the
non-biodegradable plastics in different applications. Once standards are developed for degradable
plastics they can be used to evaluate the specific formulations of materials that will find the best
application in this state as regards their performance and use characteristics. Among the alternatives
available are source reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery of the inherent energy value through
waste-to-energy incineration and processed fuel applications. Production of liquid fuel would be a
better alternative as the calorific value of the plastics is comparable to that of fuels, around
40 MJ/kg. Each of these options potentially reduces waste and conserves natural resources. Plastics
recycling continues to progress with a wide range of old and new technologies. Many research
projects have been undertaken on chemical recycling of waste plastics to fuel and monomer. This is
also reflected by a number of pilot, demonstration, and commercial plants processing various types
of plastic wastes in Germany, Japan, the USA, India, and elsewhere. Further investigations are
required to enhance the generation of value-added products (fuel) with low investments without
affecting the environment. The paper reviews the available literature in this field of active research
and identifies the gaps that need further attention.

Due to the depleting fossil fuel sources such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal, the present rate of
economic growth is unsustainable. Therefore, many sources of renewable energy have been
exploited, but the potentials of some other sources such as plastics waste are yet to be fully
developed as full-scale economic activity. Development and modernization have brought about a
huge increase in the production of all kinds of plastic commodities, which directly or indirectly
generate waste due to their wide range of applications coupled with their versatility of types and
relatively low cost. The current scenario of plastic recycling technology is reviewed in this paper. The
aim is to provide the reader with an in-depth analysis with respect to the pyrolysis of plastic waste as
obtained in the current recycling technology. As the calorific value of the plastics is comparable to
that of hydrocarbon fuel, the production of fuel from plastic waste would provide a good
opportunity to utilize the waste as a better alternative to dumpsites. Different techniques of
converting plastics waste into fuel including thermal and catalytic pyrolysis, microwave-assisted
pyrolysis and fluid catalytic cracking are discussed in detail. The co-pyrolysis of plastics waste with
biomass is also highlighted. Thus, an attempt was made to address the problem of plastic waste
disposal as a partial replacement of the depleting fossil fuel with the hope of promoting a
sustainable environment.

In Northern Europe combustion of MSW (incineration with energy recovery) in combination with
district heating systems is quite common. In Sweden, about 47% of the household waste is treated
by incineration with energy recovery. Most incineration plants are CHP, summing up to 0.3% of the
total electricity generation. MSW is to a high extent a renewable fuel, but plastic, rubber, etc. can
amount to 50% of the carbon content in the waste. Recycling of plastic is in general environmentally
favourable in comparison to landfill disposal or incineration. However, some plastic types are not
possible to recycle and some plastic is of such low quality that it is not suitable for recycling. This

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paper focuses on the non-renewable and non-recyclable plastic in MSW. A CO2 assessment has been
made for non-recyclable plastic where incineration with energy recovery has been compared to
landfill disposal. In the assessment, consideration has been taken of alternative fuel in the
incinerator, emissions from waste treatment and avoided emissions from heat and power supply.
For landfill disposal of plastic the emissions of CO2 amounts to 253 g kg−1 plastic. For incineration,
depending on different discrete choices, the results vary from −673 g kg−1 to 4605 g kg−1. Results
indicate that for typical Swedish and European conditions, incineration of plastics has net emissions
of greenhouse gases. These emissions are also in general higher for incineration than for landfill
disposal. However, in situations where plastics are incinerated with high efficiency and high
electricity to heat ratios, and the heat and the electricity from the incineration of plastics are
replacing heat and electricity in non-combined heat and power plants based on fossil fuels,
incineration of plastics can give a net negative contribution of greenhouse gases. The results suggest
that efforts should be made to increase the recycling of plastics, direct incineration of plastics in
places where it can be combusted with high efficiency and high electricity-to-heat ratios where it is
replacing fossil fuels, and reconsider the present policies of avoiding landfill disposal of plastics.

On a large scale, the amount of pyrolytic gas generated and their components have a very important
role in product recovery in the form of energy. The obtained gases having HHV can be utilized for the
generation of power or can be utilized in the process itself to reduce the input energy and helps to
become a self-sustainable process. In the present study, real-world municipal plastic waste mainly
comprising polyethylene (low and high density), polypropylene, polystyrene and polyethylene
terephthalate were pyrolyzed at different temperatures, ranging 450–600 °C with a sample mass of
200 g to create an appropriate real blend environment. The non-condensable gaseous product
generation profile was studied along with the heat transfer profile in the reactor. The effect and
formation of gaseous products were explained based on an experimental investigation which shows
an increase in H2 on increasing the temperature with a decrease in low molecular
weight hydrocarbons. In addition, the identification of non-condensable gaseous components was
done using gas chromatography. Effect of residence time was strong at higher temperature process
conditions producing heavier hydrocarbons in gas, and in oil as wax. An increase in operating
temperature increased the concentration of H2 whereas no effect on the formation of CO and
CO2 was observed. Recovery time of non-condensable gases was less at higher temperatures
whereas yield increases on increasing the operating temperature. The residence time of volatiles in
the reactor affected the formation of hydrocarbons like ethylene, propane, and n-butane.

How much Yield was obtained from Plastic wastes?

According to many studies and researches, Liquid Fuel yield depends on type of plastics and usage of
catalysts. The estimated figure is calculated by analyzing different studies conducted based on
“Plastic Waste to fuel”.

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Analysing some of the many Researches conducted :

o According to Levenberg-Marquadt Approach, It is proven that the pyrolysis of plastic waste

managed to produce high yield of liquid fuel more than 80 wt %.

o According to the research paper of Ramli Thahir, Ali Altway, Sri Rachmania Juliastuti, and
Susianto, it is stated that Optimum liquid oil yield is 88 wt. % comprising of Kerosene and
Gasoline.

o According to the journal of Supattra Budsaereechai, Andrew J. Hunt and Yuvarat Ngernyen,
86.4 wt. % Liquid oil is yielded without catalyst. And with catalyst, the yield is around 88 wt.
%.

o According to the article of Prachi Patel in anthropocenemagazine.org, the researchers were

able to transform 91% of plastic to fuel.

o According to the article of Amanda Doyle, Pyrolysis has an oil yield of 67-82 wt. % without a
catalyst and otherwise it can yield 81-91 wt. %.

o According to article of S D A Sharuddin, Liquid fuel yield depends upon the type of plastics
and usage of catalysts. 97 wt. % of oil was produced using PS since it is easily degradable,
LDPE produced liquid yield of 93.1 wt. % followed by HDPE (84.7 wt. %) and PP (82.12 wt. %).

Considering all this researches and studies it can be estimated that average liquid fuel yield is around
86 wt. %.

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Plastic waste Sources and Properties

It can be classified as industrial and municipal plastic wastes according to their origins. They have
different qualities and properties and subjected to different management strategies. A massive
amount of plastics waste arises as a by-product or faulty products in industries. The total waste that
is generated can be differentiated in two types of plastics, 78% of that belongs to thermoplastics and
remaining to the thermosets.

Thermoplastics are composed of polyolefins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and

polyvinyl fluoride. These types of plastics can be recycled.

Thermosets mainly include epoxy and polyurethanes and cannot be recycled.

Different methods of plastic waste management are:

The increase in population has rapidly increased the use of plastic and its products. The most crucial
problem with plastics is that they are non-biodegradable and cannot be easily returned to nature.
There are several methods that can be used for the disposal of municipal and industrial plastic
waste. These can be landfill, incineration (energy recovery), true material recycling (similar recycled
products or monomer recovery), and chemical recovery. During early 2000, the enormous amount of
plastic wastes was disposed of as landfilling (65-70%) and incineration (20-25%). Only 10% of them
were recycled. In Japan, the percentage of municipal plastic wastes as a fraction of MSW, which was
landfilled in the early 1980 and was estimated to be 45% incineration was 50% and the other 5% was
subjected to separation and recycling. In India, during 1998, around 8 lacs of tonnes representing
600% of plastic wastes generated in India were recycled, involving 2000 units. This level of recycling
is the highest in the world.

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Landfilling: The Highest portion of the solid waste, including plastics, have been subjected to landfill.
But this method of disposing of is becoming undesirable due to legislative pressures that must be
reduced by 35% over the period from 1995 to 2020 increase in the cost greenhouse effect.

Mechanical recycling: It is the process of reprocessing the used plastics to form new similar
products. It is a type of primary and secondary recycling of plastic where the homogenous waste
plastics are converted to new kinds of products with nearly some or fewer performance levels than
the original product. Efforts were made in the early 1970 and by some polymer technologists to
recover materials from plastics that can be suitable for waste.

Second use but practical experience has shown that reprocessing of mixed contaminated plastics
produces polymer polyblends that are inferior mechanically and lacking in durability compared with
those produced from virgin polymers. (the Purest form of plastics come directly from resins
produced from the petrochemical feedstock, like natural gas or crude oil).

Biological recycling: An intensive research had been made both in industry and in universities to
develop polymeric material that can fulfill our requirements as well as can be returned to a
biological cycle after use. This resulted in the development of biodegradable polymers, which can be
converted to biomass in a short period.

Biodegradable plastics are used in the food catering industry which photodegrades in six weeks. It
can be used in non-packaging appliances such as a computer or car components. But these plastics
will only degrade if they are disposed of in an appropriate environment. E.g., A photodegradable
plastic product will not degrade if it is varied in a landfill site where there is no light. It may cause an
increase in emissions of greenhouse gas such as methane when these plastics biodegrade
anaerobically.

Thermal recycling/ incineration: The energy generated by incineration of plastics is a viable use for
the recovery of waste polymers to replace fossil fuel and can reduce the CO2 burden on the
environment. Incineration is the preferred energy recovery option of local authorities because there
is financial gain by selling waste plastics as fuel. Co-incineration of plastic wastes with other
municipal solid wastes may be increasingly practiced because the high calorific value of plastics can
enhance the heating value of MSW and facilitate efficient incineration. At the same time, their
energy content can also be recovered.

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Wastes are proportional to their Usage.

We got some statistics regarding Plastics consumptions, waste, etc.

Representation of Plastic wastes exporters countries in graphical format by Statista

This is the representation by ourworldindata.org.

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This representation shows us the magnitude of input of plastics to the environment such as oceans.
This representation is very crucial not only because of the scale of the problem but also to
implement interventions for the reduction of this problem.

In this above representation, It is clearly visible that Plastic generation rate is too high as compared to
Recovery rate which leads Mass Plastic waste.

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This above representation shows about the Production, Waste and Recycle of Plastic Materials.

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CONCEPT/IDEA_________________________________________________________________

The basic idea of our project is to convert plastic into fuel. Using the process called Pyrolysis. We knew
that plastic is being used in many needs in our daily lives. Once the plastic has been used, it is thrown
as waste. The main problem comes here as it is not degradable. It causes an adverse effect on our
environment, which could lead to disturbance in the environment. There have been around 6.3 billion
tons of plastic produced worldwide since the 1950s. Of this, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic
winds up in the ocean every year and are pervasive. The old economic forum predicts that by 2050 if
things continue at the current rate, the oceans will hold more plastic than fishes. This shows that we
are in severe trouble. A recent study found that we are eating our own plastic wastes, in-fact every
week we eat enough plastic to make credit cards, annually we eat about 250 grams of plastic. This
study was carried out by the University of New Castle, and they said that the most source of plastic
consumption is drinking water. This includes tap water and bottled water, also fish unsurprisingly. A
lot is unknown about plastic consumption and its effects on humans, but there will be some severe
issues with our health.

Due to the crisis of fossil fuels, in the past decade, mankind has to focus on developing alternative
energy sources such as biomass solar energy and wind energy. The development of alternative fuel
technologies is investigated to deliver the placement of fossil fuels.

The pyrolysis process becomes an option of waste to energy technology to deliver biofuels replaced
fossil fuels. The marine life would severally disturb as they eat plastic as their food.

As they show some grievous effects, we have to take some measures to decrease plastic consumption.
Many companies and countries were on their way. But what if we could do even more than all of this:
turning plastic waste to fuels could be a better solution.

A research group lead by Washington State University has found a way to turn plastic waste into fuels.
We can melt plastic waste by heating at high temperatures with activated carbon, basically processed
carbon with increased surface area, and the end result is jet fuel.

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METHODOLOGY______________________________________________________________
We will be ground down waste plastic products like water bottles, milk bottles, and plastic bags down
to the size of a grain of rice. The plastic grounds were then placed at activated carbon and tube reactor
at a high temperature of about 571 C ̊ . The carbon is a catalyst or substance that speeds up the
chemical reaction without being consumed itself. The whole process is known as Pyrolysis.

As we know, both plastics and petroleum-derived fuels are hydrocarbons that contain the elements
of carbon and hydrogen, and Pyrolysis process becomes an option of waste to energy technology to
deliver biofuel to replace fossil fuel. It is also environmentally friendly.

Plastic Pyrolysis is a chemical reaction. The name ‘Pyro’ means heat and ‘lysis’ mean breakdown. The
reaction will break a large molecule into a smaller molecule in the presence of heat and absence of
Oxygen.

PYROLYSIS PROCESS

The process of chemically decomposing Organic material at an elevated temperature in the absence
of Oxygen. The process typically occurs at a temperature above 430 C̊ and under pressure. It involves
a change in the physical phase and chemical composition and is irreversible.

Instead, chemical compounds (i.e., Cellulose and lignin) that make up the material decompose into
combustible gases and charcoal. E.g., For Hydrolysis is food cooking. When you cook food, the
temperature of food increases that leads to higher molecular vibration and breakdown of large
complex molecules into smaller and simple molecules (Pyro = Heat, lysis = Breakdown)

It is used in the treatment of organic materials. It is the processes involved in charring wood. It
produces a volatile product and Leavy solid residue enriched in carbon. Products of biomass Pyrolysis
include biochar, bio-oil, and gases include methane, hydrogen, and CO, CO2.

Plastics are organic compounds having a long chain of hydrocarbons synthesized from a petroleum
product. Plastic products and consumption rates increased exponentially due to their low cost, non-
degradable nature, easy availability, and management. The rising plastics demand also led to the
exhaustion of non-renewable crude oil as plastics are petroleum-based material various methods of
waste plastic treatment.

Advantages of Pyrolysis process are:

✓ Volumes of waste will get reduce.

✓ The environmental problem is reduced.
✓ The cost of implementation is less.
✓ Solid, liquid and gaseous fuel can be obtained by Wastes.

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And we have some disadvantages even:

✓ The quality of the fuels produced might not be good.

✓ This process requires high temperature and retention time.

To overcome these challenges, we can use the method of Catalytic Pyrolysis, which has the potential
to convert 70-80 % of Plastic wastes to fuels that have similar characteristics to diesel fuel with high
heating value (HHV) and hence produces a good quality liquid fuel. And Hence fuels generated can be
used in Electricity generation, transport fuel, and electricity source. And the best thing is by-products
from this process can be used as an absorbent material for the removal of heavy metals, pollutants
from polluted air and wastewater. Despite all these advantages, some limitations such as high
catalysts cost, high parasitic energy demand and less reuse of catalysts are still remaining.

Since Catalytic Pyrolysis is still under research and even We are currently working on it (Catalytic
Pyrolysis) trying to find out ways to increase efficiency and overcome the challenges.

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