Catalytic reactions of post-consumer polymer waste over fluidised cracking catalysts for producing hydrocarbons

• DOI: 10.1016/j.molcata.2005.01.003
• Publication Date: 2005-02-03T07:20:31Z
• Authors: Y.-H. Lin; M.-H. Yang
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy

Abstract A post-consumer polymer mixture (PE/PP/PS/PVC) was pyrolysed over catalysts using a laboratory fluidised-bed reactor operating isothermally at ambient pressure. The effects of reaction conditions including catalyst, temperature, ratios of commingled polymer to catalyst feed and flow rates of fluidising gas were examined. The yield of volatile hydrocarbons for zeolitic catalysts (HZSM-5 > HUSY ≈ HMOR) gave higher yield than non-zeolitic catalysts (SAHA ≈ MCM-41). Product distributions with HZSM-5 contained more olefinic materials with about 60 wt.% in the range of C3–C5. However, both HMOR and HUSY produced more paraffinic streams with large amounts of butane (C4). The larger pore zeolites (HUSY and HMOR) showed deactivation in contrast to the more restrictive HZSM-5. MCM-41 and SAHA showed the lowest conversion and generated an olefin-rich product with a rise to the broadest carbon range of C3–C7. The selectivity could be further influenced by changes in reactor conditions. Valuable hydrocarbons of olefins and iso-olefins were produced by low temperatures and short contact times used in this study.