Optimizing Zeolite Catalysts for Efficient LDPE Plastic Waste Pyrolysis

Hilda Porawati, Mazwan Mazwan, Sukadi Sukadi

Abstract


The problem of plastic waste, particularly from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic bags, poses a significant challenge in environmental management due to its non-biodegradable nature and widespread use in daily life. This study evaluates the influence of catalyst types on the characteristics and energy efficiency of liquid fuel products produced from LDPE waste pyrolysis. The three treatments compared were no catalysts, natural zeolite catalyst, and synthetic zeolite catalysts, each subjected to three different temperature variations: 250°C, 300°C, and 350°C. The observed parameters in this study were volume, product mass, cetane index, density, sulfur content, viscosity, flash point, calorific value, and energy efficiency related to the energy consumed during the pyrolysis process. The experimental results showed that synthetic zeolite had a significant effect on increasing the yield and pyrolysis oil. In addition, the use of synthetic zeolite was also able to produce a higher volume of pyrolysis oil than natural zeolite, and without zeolite, with a value of 410 mL per 500 grams of LDPE, with the highest efficiency value of 89.97%. The use of synthetic zeolite also showed better physical characteristics with cetane index and flash point values approaching the national fuel standard (SNI). However, the calorific value and viscosity of all pyrolysis oil products still did not meet the standards and were still below the minimum value for diesel fuel.

Keywords


Energy efficiency, LDPE, pyrolysis, synthetic catalyst, zeolite.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Y. Chen, A. K. Awasthi, F. Wei, Q. Tan, and J. Li, “Single-use plastics: Production, usage, disposal, and adverse impacts,” Sci. Total Environ., vol. 752, p. 141772, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141772.

P. Kasar, D.K. Sharma, and M. Ahmaruzzaman, “Thermal and catalytic decomposition of waste plastics and its co-processing with petroleum residue through pyrolysis process,” J. Clean. Prod., vol. 265, p. 121639, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121639.

O. Szlachetka, J. Witkowska-Dobrev, A. Baryła, and M. Dohojda, “Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) building films – Tensile properties and surface morphology,” J. Build. Eng., vol. 44, no. June, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2021.103386.

A.S. Lubis, Z.A. Muis, and N.A. Siregar, “The effects of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) addition to the characteristics of asphalt mixture,” IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci., vol. 476, no. 1, 2020, doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/476/1/012063.

I.N. Santhiarsa, “Effect of variations in pyrolysis reactor with glass wool equipped and without glass wool on the weight of the oil produced,” J. Mech. Eng. Sci. Technol., vol. 5, no. 2, p. 89, 2021, doi: 10.17977/um016v5i22021p089.

T.Y.A. Fahmy, Y. Fahmy, F. Mobarak, M. El-Sakhawy, and R.E. Abou-Zeid, “Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future,” Environ. Dev. Sustain., vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 17–32, 2020, doi: 10.1007/s10668-018-0200-5.

H. Porawati, A. Kurniawan, and E. Yuliwati, “Effect of temperature on gasification of biomass using zeolit,” J. Phys. Conf. Ser., vol. 1845, no. 1, 2021, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/1845/1/012040.

M.M. Hasan, M.G. Rasul, M.M.K. Khan, N. Ashwath, and M.I. Jahirul, “Energy recovery from municipal solid waste using pyrolysis technology: A review on current status and developments,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 145, no. September 2020, p. 111073, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111073.

I.M. Maafa, “Pyrolysis of polystyrene waste: A review,” Polymers (Basel)., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 1–30, 2021, doi: 10.3390/polym13020225.

B. Rimez, S. Breyer, O. Vekemans, and B. Haut, “Co-pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene and motor oil—investigation of the chemical interactions between the components,” Recycling, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 1–13, 2020, doi: 10.3390/recycling5040033.

A.Y. Aminullah, S. Sukarni, R. Wulandari, and M. Shahbaz, “Pyrolysis kinetics of spirulina platensis and non-condensable gas product distribution in a fixed-bed reactor,” J. Mech. Eng. Sci. Technol., vol. 8, no. 1, p. 151, 2024, doi: 10.17977/um016v8i12024p151.

M. Raza, S.R. Naqvi, A. Inayat, A. Ahmed, F. Jamil, C. Ghenai et al., “Progress of the pyrolyzer reactors and advanced technologies for biomass pyrolysis processing,” Sustain., vol. 13, no. 19, pp. 1–42, 2021, doi: 10.3390/su131911061.

K. Murthy, R. J. Shetty, and K. Shiva, “Plastic waste conversion to fuel: a review on pyrolysis process and influence of operating parameters,” Energy Sources, Part A Recover. Util. Environ. Eff., vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 11904–11924, 2023, doi: 10.1080/15567036.2020.1818892.

N. Sobuś and I. Czekaj, “Comparison of synthetic and natural zeolite catalysts’ behavior in the production of lactic acid and ethyl lactate from biomass-derived dihydroxyacetone,” Catalysts, vol. 11, no. 8, 2021, doi: 10.3390/catal11081006.

M. Król, “Natural vs. synthetic zeolites,” Crystals, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 1–8, 2020, doi: 10.3390/cryst10070622.

N. Kordala and M. Wyszkowski, “Zeolite properties, methods of synthesis, and selected applications,” Molecules, vol. 29, no. 5, 2024, doi: 10.3390/molecules29051069.

R. Cai, X. Pei, H. Pan, K. wan, H. chen, Z. zhang, and Y. zhang, “Biomass catalytic pyrolysis over zeolite catalysts with an emphasis on porosity and acidity: A state-of-the-art review,” Energy and Fuels, vol. 34, no. 10, pp. 11771–11790, 2020, doi: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c02147.

J. Szerement, A. Szatanik-Kloc, R. Jarosz, T. Bajda, and M. Mierzwa-Hersztek, “Contemporary applications of natural and synthetic zeolites from fly ash in agriculture and environmental protection,” J. Clean. Prod., vol. 311, no. May, p. 127461, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127461.

Y. Zang, J. Wang, J. Gu, J. Qu, and F. Gao, “Mesoporogen-free synthesis of hierarchical HZSM-5 for LDPE catalytic cracking,” CrystEngComm, vol. 22, no. 21, pp. 3598–3607, 2020, doi: 10.1039/d0ce00255k.

A. Santoso, A. Sholikhah, S. Sumari, M.R. Asrori, A.R. Wijaya, and I.B. Rachman, “Effect of active zeolite in the pyrolysis of polypropylene and low density polyethylene types of plastic waste,” J. Renew. Mater., vol. 10, no. 11, pp. 2781–2789, 2022, doi: 10.32604/jrm.2022.021401.

P. Sudalaimuthu, U. Ali, and R. Sathyamurthy, “Optimization of process parameters of catalytic pyrolysis using natural zeolite and synthetic zeolites on yield of plastic oil through response surface methodology,” Sci. Rep., vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-78180-1.

A.A.P. Susastriawan, Purnomo, and A. Sandria, “Experimental study the influence of zeolite size on low-temperature pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene plastic waste,” Therm. Sci. Eng. Prog., vol. 17, no. February, p. 100497, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.tsep.2020.100497.

Mazwan, S.D. Utama, and R.A. Fajardini, “Multi-objective optimization in EDM process using backpropagation neural network-genetic algorithm (BPNN-GA),” Int. J. Eng. Model., vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 81–97, 2024, doi: 10.31534/engmod.2024.2.ri.05d.

N. Lee, J. Joo, K.Y.A. Lin, and J. Lee, “Waste-to-fuels: Pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene waste in the presence of H-ZSM-11,” Polymers (Basel)., vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 1–9, 2021, doi: 10.3390/polym13081198.

C.Y. Lin and X.E. Wu, “Determination of cetane number from fatty acid compositions and structures of biodiesel,” Processes, vol. 10, no. 8, 2022, doi: 10.3390/pr10081502.

J.B. Silva, J.S. Almeida, R.V. Barbosa, G.J.T. Fernandes, A.C.F. Coriolano, V.J. Fernandes Jr, and A.S. Araujo, “Pressurized differential scanning calorimetry and its calculated cetane index,” Process, vol. 9, no. 174, pp. 2–11, 2021.

M. Mazwan, M.K. Effendi, B.O.P. Soepangkat, S.D. Utama, and R.A. Fajardini, Multi-objective Optimization of Turning Process Steel SKD 11 Using BPNN-Artificial Bee Colony ( ABC ) Method. Atlantis Press International BV, 2022. doi: 10.2991/978-94-6463-134-0.

S.L. Wong, S. Armenise, B.B. Nyakum, A. Bogush, S. Towers, C.H. Lee et al., “Plastic pyrolysis over HZSM-5 zeolite and fluid catalytic cracking catalyst under ultra-fast heating,” J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis, vol. 169, no. November 2022, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jaap.2022.105793.

N. Zhou, L. Dai, Yuancai Lv, H. Li, W. Deng, F. Guo et al., “Catalytic pyrolysis of plastic wastes in a continuous microwave assisted pyrolysis system for fuel production,” Chem. Eng. J., vol. 418, no. December 2020, p. 129412, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2021.129412.

M. Díaz, E. Epelde, J. Valecillos, S. Izaddoust, A.T. Aguayo, and J. Bilbao, “Coke deactivation and regeneration of HZSM-5 zeolite catalysts in the oligomerization of 1-butene,” Appl. Catal. B Environ., vol. 291, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2021.120076.

O.A. Kolenchukov, K.A. Bashmur, V.V. Bukhtoyarov, S.O. Kurashkin, V.S. Tynchenko, E.V. Tsygankova et al., “Experimental study of oil non-condensable gas pyrolysis in a stirred-tank reactor for catalysis of hydrogen and hydrogen-containing mixtures production,” Energies, vol. 15, no. 22, 2022, doi: 10.3390/en15228346.

B. Csutoras and N. Miskolczi, “Thermo-catalytic pyrolysis of sewage sludge and techno-economic analysis: The effect of synthetic zeolites and natural sourced catalysts,” Bioresour. Technol., vol. 400, no. February, p. 130676, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130676.

S.R. Khan, M. Zeeshan, A. Ahmed, and S. Saeed, “Comparison of synthetic and low-cost natural zeolite for bio-oil focused pyrolysis of raw and pretreated biomass,” J. Clean. Prod., vol. 313, no. March, p. 127760, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127760.

B.L. Murillo, M. Pala, A.L. Paioni, M. Baldus, F. Ronsse, W. Prins, P.C.A. Bruijnincx, and B.M. Weckhuysen, “Catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass: catalyst characterization reveals the feed-dependent deactivation of a technical ZSM-5-based catalyst,” ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 291–304, 2021, doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c07153.

L. Fulgencio-Medrano, S. García-Fernández, A. Asueta, A. Lopez-Urionabarrenechea, B.B. Perez-Martinez, and J.M. Arandes, “Oil production by pyrolysis of real plastic waste,” Polymers (Basel)., vol. 14, no. 3, 2022, doi: 10.3390/polym14030553.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17977/10.17977/um016v9i22025p344

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

View My Stats