Abstract:
Plastics have become an indispensable part of modern life today. The global production
of plastics has gone up to 299million tones in 2013, which is believed to be increasing in the near
future. The utilization of plastics and its final disposal pose a tremendous negative significance
impacts on the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the thermal and catalytic
pyrolysis for production of hydrocarbon fuel from the polyethene plastic wastes. Catalysts used in
the experiment were acid activated clay mineral and aluminum chlorides on activated carbon. The
clay mineral was activated by refluxing it with 6M Sulphuric acid for 3hours. The experiment was
conducted in three different phases: the first phase of the experiment was done without a catalyst
where 88mL oil was obtained at a maximum temperature of 39 °C and heating rates of
12.5°C/minutes, reaction time of 4hours. The second phase involves the use of acid activated clay
mineral where 100mL of oil was obtained and heating rates of 12.5°C/minutes and reaction time of
3hours 30minutes. The third phase was done using aluminum chlorides on activated carbon and
105ml oil was obtained at a maximum temperature of 400°C and heating rates of 15.5°C reaction
time of 3hours 10minutes. From the results, catalytic pyrolysis is more efficient than purely thermal
pyrolysis and homogenous catalysis (aluminum chlorides) shows a better result than solid acid
catalyst (activated clay minerals) hence saving the energy needed for pyrolysis and making the
process more economically feasible.