Indian Journal of Chemical Technology

Vol. 25, July 2018, pp. 336-344

Production and characterization of pyrolysis oil using waste polyethylene

in a semi batch reactor
Pramendra Gaurh & Hiralal Pramanik*
Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology,
Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi 221 005, India
E-mail: [email protected]
Received 6 October 2016; accepted 4 August 2017

Plastic waste, polyethylene has been used as a feed stock for the production of valuable hydrocarbons via thermal
pyrolysis. The thermal pyrolysis of waste polyethylene has been investigated in a specially designed semi batch reactor with
L/D ratio of 1.2. Polyethylene sample of 50 g is used as feed using different reaction temperatures from 500-800°C. The
reaction time of 30 min is maintained irrespective of variation in other experimental conditions. The pyrolysis oil are
characterized using API gravity, flash and fire point, calorific value, carbon residue, proximate analysis, ASTM distillation
and GC-FID, The maximum liquid yield of 72.6% is obtained at a temperature of 800°C, whereas the liquid yield was
61.5% at the temperature of 500°C. Though the liquid yield is maximum at 800°C, the pyrolysis oil solidifies at 32°C, which
indicates higher paraffins are more. The solid char produced was minimum (9.4 wt %) at 800°C and it was maximum
(20.44 wt. %) at 500°C. There is minor change in gaseous hydrocarbon yield irrespective of pyrolysis temperature. The
liquid yield obtained at 700°C exhibit the properties similar to commercial diesel with boiling point range 270-320°C i.e.,
similar to beyond 50% distillate recovery as tested in ASTM D86. GC-FID tests of pyrolysis oil (700°C) gives comparable
GC characteristics of commercial diesel.

Keywords: ASTM distillation, GC-FID, Hydrocarbon, Waste Polyethylene.

Plastics are durable, adaptable and low cost carried out under very different conditions and the
material used in industrial and domestic needs due to results were condition-related closely, which is
their light weight, mechanical strength and chemical disadvantageous in investigations of reaction paths for
resistance. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) PE thermolysis2. Particularly, experimental
polymer is the third largest product, plastic material in approaches could hardly capture the changes at the
the world, after polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene atomic level directly. The research engineers and
in terms of volume. However, plastics are non- scientists have spent decades trying to advance the
biodegradable and execute an ever growing pyrolysis process and bring back the waste plastic into
environmental problem1. It is also evident that many the manufacturing line by generating high quality
countries have imposed banned on plastic uses due to chemicals and alternative fuel-like products6.
the environmental problem. However, this can’t solve Presently, the main focus has been on the
the plastic waste disposal problem entirely. development of an appropriate catalyst and reactor
Nowadays, pyrolysis of plastic waste has become configuration that can achieve desired products.
an environment-friendly method for altering and The thermal degradation of polyethylene has been
upgrading plastic solid waste into valuable fuel or the subject of numerous studies by researchers who
chemicals2. This is to attain efficient recovery of raw investigated distribution of the products generated and
materials and energy in order to reduce usage of waste their composition7,8. The batch or semi-batch reactors
plastic in landfill and incineration. Pyrolysis of were used in most of the researches for thermal and
polyethylene (PE) is frequently employed to catalytic pyrolysis of virgin plastic, as well as post-
determine the potential application of pyrolysis in consumer plastic waste, as the process parameters
plastic recycling by discovering the operative could be easily controlled. Some of the important
conditions and the liquid products generated in parameters that were known include reaction
experiments2-5. Most of the previous works were temperature, weight ratio of plastic to catalyst, and
 GAURH & PRAMANIK: PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PYROLYSIS OIL USING WASTE POLYETHYLENE 337

reaction time. The reaction temperature was in the about 41.5 wt. % reported in Table 1 and has been
range of 300-900°C and the reaction time reported in the published literature17. Thus, the raw
30-90 min9,10 for pyrolysis process. William et al.11 material waste polyethylene (PE) was collected from
studied the effect of reaction temperature ranging the municipal dumping zone, as the municipal waste
from 500 to 700°C on the composition of the products is a source of used polyethylene. The PE waste,
obtained from LDPE pyrolysis. On increasing mostly “carry bag” was first subjected to water
reaction temperature led to a significant increase in washing and dried in open sunlight. The dried
single and polycyclic aromatics in the derived oil that polyethylene was cut into small pieces using scissors
necessitated further treatment. The carbon number manually. This was done to increase the heat transfer
distribution of the wax sample was from C11 to C57, surface area of the material during melting process.
while the oil sample was from C8 to C44. Analysis of Experimental set up and method
the oils showed that at the higher pyrolysis Figure 1a shows the schematic of experimental set
temperatures, the concentration of aliphatic species up of pyrolysis process consist of a semi batch reactor
above about C30 was greatly reduced. It was also (Fig.1b). The polyethylene sample of 50 g was filled
found that for the oils, the diene/alkane ratio increased in reactor made of mild steel with 123 mm outer
for each carbon number as the pyrolysis temperature diameter, 112 mm inner diameter and 135 mm height.
was increased from 500°C to 700°C. Shah et al.12 The dimension of the reactor was fixed based on
performed thermal pyrolysis of LDPE bags at 275°C standard design criterion of appropriate L/D ratio of
and produced 48.6 wt. % liquid, 40.7 wt. % gaseous 1.2. This increases the path length for vapour
and rest 10.1 wt. % was residue. This result was recirculation inside the reactor.
comparable to some thermal pyrolysis process in The nitrogen gas was introduced into reactor at the
batch reactor13 and fixed-bed reactor14 in laboratories. rate of 10 mL/min to ensure there is no oxygen in
Tan et al.15 revealed that extension of reaction time reactor as shown in Fig. 1c. The pyrolysis
resulted in improved liquid product quality, but coke experiments of PE were performed at different
formation also increased. It was proposed that coke temperatures of 500, 600, 700 and 800oC. The time
was formed from condensed asphaltenes, which for each set of experiments were maintained for 30
existed in heavy oil itself. The liquid product formed minutes. The vapour produces inside the reactor was
from plastic pyrolysis was found suitable for the use collected using a pipeline which was connected at the
as fuel in most tropical climate region. However, high top of the reactor. The pipeline was attached to a
pour point may be a problem in colder regions. copper tube condenser followed by an ice bath to
Achilias et al.14 suggested that after appropriate decrease the vapour temperature gradually and reduce
advancement, pyrolysis liquid can be combined with the vapour loss at the collecting end. The pipeline was
commercial gasoline or diesel and used in combustion covered with wet jute to enhance rate of vapour cooling.
engines. Jung et al.16 studied the pyrolysis of PE and Two conical flasks in series were kept in the ice bath and
obtained liquid products (60 wt. %) confined 32% pyrolysis oil was collected as condensate. The produced
benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) compounds and gas was trapped using gas holder.
showed that the production of BTX increased with
reaction temperature. Analysis of the reaction products
In this work, the pyrolysis of low density ASTM distillation
polyethylene (LDPE) waste material was considered ASTM distillation of pyrolysis oil was obtained
for investigation in a specially designed semi batch using ASTM D86 method. In this test 100 mL of
reactor using thermal pyrolysis techniques to obtain Table 1 — The composition of municipal plastic waste
optimum temperature to achieve high liquid yield
very similar to diesel and kerosene fuel. The pyrolysis Name of plastic materials Composition (wt. %)
oil was thoroughly characterized to check the Polyethylene (PE) 41.5
suitability of use in diesel engine. Polypropylene (PP) 24.3
Poly ethylene terephthalate (PET) 12.8
Poly vinyl chloride (PVC) 2.9
Experimental Section Poly lactic acid (PLA) 0.2
The analysis of municipal plastic wastes shows that Poly styrene (PS) 6.6
major amount of it contains polyethylene which is Others 11.7
338 INDIAN J. CHEM. TECHNOL., JULY 2018

by crushed ice-water mixture to maintain temperature

at 0°C. First drop from the condenser must be
available in 5 to 10 min after heating started, at which
the recorded temperature was mentioned as initial
boiling point (IBP) of the sample. The vapour
temperature was recorded at each successive 5 mL
distillate collected in a measuring cylinder. The test
continues in the same way till the bottom of the flask
shows dryness, the temperature recorded corresponds
to final boiling point (FBP). The percentage distillate
collected after condensation of vapour and its
corresponding temperature was recorded to get the
experimental ASTM distillation characteristics. The
experimental characteristics were compared with the
standard plot as reported in standard literature18.
Flash and fire point
Flash and fire point of pyrolysis oil were obtained
using Cleveland open cup apparatus (ASTM D 92).
Flash point is defined as the minimum temperature at
which the vapours from oil sample will give a
momentary flash on application of standard flame
under specific test conditions. The pyrolysis oil was
filled up to the mark and the temperature of the oil
was slowly and uniformly raised at a rate of 3°C per
min. Test flame was lighted and spring handle was
rotated at every 1°C raise in thermometer. When oil
sample burns momentary or flash occurred, flash
point temperature was noted. Fire point temperature
was noted when the oil vapours can burn continuously
for at least 5 s and it occurs after the flash point, by
3-4°C.

Carbon Residue
Carbon residue of pyrolysis oil was obtained using
Ramsbottom Carbon Residue Apparatus (IP 14/65).
The sample of 1 g was carefully fed into a glass
coking bulb which has a capillary end. The coking
bulb was kept in a heating lead bath at a temperature
of 550°C. The oil sample was allowed to decompose
for 20 min. After heating is over, the bulb is cooled
and weighted to find the carbon residue formed. This
was done to check the propensity of cracking of
pyrolysis oil at high temperature.
American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity
The API gravity of pyrolysis oil is calculated using
Fig. 1 — (a) Schematic of experimental set-up, (b). Semi batch the oil sample specific gravity, which is the ratio of
. °
reactor. (c) Nitrogen introduced in reactor. density of oil to that of water( ) . The API
. °
sample is distilled in a standard flask. The distillate gravity of the pyrolysis oil sample was calculated by
was condensed in a brass tube condenser, surrounded the following equation (1):
 GAURH & PRAMANIK: PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PYROLYSIS OIL USING WASTE POLYETHYLENE 339

. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis

Deg. API = ( ) – 131.5 …(1)
 The compositional analysis of bio-gas was
where, pyrolysis oil = specific gravity of fraction at evaluated by gas chromatograph (NUCON 5765)
using flame ionization detector (FID) with a SE-30
. °
( ) 10% chromosorb W packed stainless steel column
. °
(2 m × 2 mm). Nitrogen was used as a carrier gas at
The API gravity is used to classify oil as light, medium, the rate of 40 mL min−1. The oven column
heavy, or extra heavy. As the “quality” of oil is the largest temperature ranged from 70 to 230°C; programmed at
determinant of its market value, the API gravity is 7°C min−1 with initial and final hold time of 10 min.
exceptionally important for each fraction of oil sample. The Injector and detector temperatures were 220 and
oil quality and types are reported as follows19: 230°C, respectively. The injection method was used
for analysis of 1µl sample. The percentages of the
Light oil :Deg. API > 31.1 individual constituents were calculated by electronic
Medium oil :Deg. API between 22.3 and 31.1 integration of the FID peak areas without response
Heavy oil :Deg. API < 22.3 factor correction20.
Extra Heavy oil :Deg. API < 10.0
Proximate analysis
Results and Discussion
Product yield of thermal cracking
Proximate analysis of solid residue (coke) was
Figure 2 and Fig. 3 show that the yield (wt %) of
done following ASTM test methods (IS 1350-1959).
pyrolysis oil increases with the increase in
This is an assay of the moisture, volatile matter, ash
content and fixed carbon of a solid sample. The
moisture content was determined by the weight loss
that a sample undergoes after it has been heated at a
temperature of 108°C for 30 min. The determination
of volatile matter is an empirical test in which the loss
in weight experiences by 1 g of sample is estimated in
crucible with lid to ensure absence of air when
carbonised at 925°C temperature for 7 min. is
estimated. The loss is partly made up of moisture in
the sample and thus true volatile matter is obtained by
subtracting the moisture content of the sample. Ash
content is the residue that remains after the sample
undergoes complete combustion as per test method
ASTM (IS 1350-1959). In ash content test first stage Fig. 2 — Product yield (wt. %) vs. temperature characteristics for
of heating of sample was done at a temperature of thermal pyrolysis of polyethylene.
425°C temperature using crucible with lid for 30 min
and second stage at a temperature of 775°C using
crucible without lid for 60 min in a muffle furnace to
ensure complete combustion.
Gross calorific value (GCV) analysis
The bomb calorimeter (IP 12/63T) was used to
determine the GCV of solid residue (coke) and
pyrolysis oil. The GCV test was performed by
weighing 1 g of sample. The sample was kept inside
the bomb and the bomb was charged with oxygen
from a cylinder to a pressure of 25 atm. The sample
was ignited and the change in temperature at equal
interval of time was recorded until it reaches at steady
state. Finally GCV was calculated using standard Fig. 3 — Comparison of % yield between liquid, gas, solid
calculation method as specified in IP 12/63T. residue and total hydrocarbon obtained at different temperatures.
340 INDIAN J. CHEM. TECHNOL., JULY 2018

temperature. The pyrolysis oil yield of 61.54, 63.58, As we know, ease of starting is governed by
68.02 and 72.66 were obtained at the temperature of initial boiling point (IBP) to 10% range boiling
500, 600, 700 and 800°C, respectively. There was point. Lower IBP is preferred for cold climates.
about 11 % increase in the pyrolysis oil when Vapour locking problem will be less and ease of
temperature was increased from 500 to 800°C. The starting will be excellent as the IBP of the
high temperature does not allow the lower molecular pyrolysis oil obtained at the temperatures of 500,
weight hydrocarbon (mainly liquid range) to remain 600 and 700°C are 43, 43.5 and 44°C respectively,
in the reactor for longer time. Thus, they enter in the which are low. It is observed in Table 2 that 10%
condenser and collected as pyrolysis oil. Moreover, distillate temperatures are low for the pyrolysis oil
rate of repolymerization decreases at high obtained by thermal process irrespective of
temperature. In addition, with the higher amount of pyrolysis temperature. This indicates that flash
energy available at the higher temperature there is a point of the pyrolysis oils shall be lower than the
tendency for an increased number of secondary kerosene and diesel. Which will results in better
reactions21. Thus, obtained coke is less at high ignition and start up of automobile if the pyrolysis
temperature. On the other side, the large molecular oils are used in the diesel engine after further
weight hydrocarbon cracks down and form smaller processing. Rate of acceleration follows after the
fractions at low temperature process. Simultaneously, starting operation which is best judged by the mid
repolymerization of aromatic molecules also takes region boiling point (30-60%). The pyrolysis oil
place at low temperature, which gives higher amount obtained at 600°C and 700°C also meet the
of coke compared to high temperature pyrolysis. The above criteria.
composition and properties of the pyrolysis oil were
also determined using ASTM distillation and GC
analyses to compare with the standard fuels.
Analysis of the product
ASTM distillation
The distillation or volatility characteristics of
hydrocarbons have an important effect on their safety
and performance, mainly in the case of fuels and
solvents. The boiling point range gives information on
the composition, properties, and behaviour of the fuel.
Volatility is the major determinant of the tendency of
a hydrocarbon mixture to produce potentially
explosive vapours. The distillation characteristics are
critically important for both automotive and aviation
gasolines, affecting starting, warm-up, and tendency
to vapour lock at high operating temperature or at
high altitude, or both.
Figure 4 shows comparison between standard fuel18
and pyrolysis oil obtained at different temperature. The Fig. 4 — Volume percent vaporized vs. ASTM temperature
boiling point range of pyrolysis oil obtained at characteristics of pyrolysis oil and standard fuel.
temperature of 500, 600 and 700°C lies in between
gasoline and kerosene for the recovery of distillate Table 2 — Important physical properties of pyrolysis oil obtained
0-30%. Similarly, the boiling point range of pyrolysis oil at 500, 600 and 700°C
obtained at the temperature of 500°C lies in between JP-4 Pyrolysis oil IBP 10% 50% 90% FBP
and kerosene for the recovery of distillate 30-95%. In obtained at (°C) Distillate Distillate Distillate (°C)
addition, the pyrolysis oil obtained at 500°C tends to different temperature temperature temperature
behaves as kerosene above 60% recovery. Whereas, temperature (°C) (°C) (°C) (°C)
interestingly pyrolysis oil obtained at the temperature of 500 43 90 196.1 271.4 276.5
600 and 700°C behave similar to diesel oil above 50% 600 43.5 90 270.2 304.2 311.4
of distillate recovery (Fig. 4). 700 44 97.7 273.8 310 318
 GAURH & PRAMANIK: PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PYROLYSIS OIL USING WASTE POLYETHYLENE 341

Flash and fire point of pyrolysis oil API gravity of pyrolysis oil
Flash and fire point of the pyrolysis oil obtained at The API gravity of pyrolysis oil obtained at
the temperatures of 500, 600, 700 and 800°C are different temperatures are presented in Table 5. It is
shown in Table 3. seen from Table 5 that the API gravity of pyrolysis oil
Flash point and fire point of diesel fuel are 55 obtained at the temperature of 500, 600, 700 and
and 62°C, respectively. whereas, for kerosene these 800°C are greater than 31.1 Deg.
are 38 and 46°C, respectively22. Flash and fire point According to Tiab et al.19 if the API gravity of oil >
of pyrolysis oil are in the range of 35-36°C and 39- 31.1 the oil is designated as light oil. The light oil is
42°C, respectively irrespective of pyrolysis composed of a high number of paraffins, which are
temperatures (Table 3). This indicates that the flash straight and branched chain hydrocarbons that have
point of pyrolysis oil is comparable to the light high hydrogen to carbon ratio.
petroleum distillate fuel e.g., kerosene and diesel.
Thus, during handling and storage of pyrolysis oil, Proximate analysis of the solid residue
additional precautions are required. The proximate analysis of solid residue (coke) was
performed to determine the parameters wt. % e.g.
Carbon residue of pyrolysis oil moisture, volatile matter, ash content and fixed
High levels of carbon residue can however impair carbon. The results of proximate analysis are shown
the combustion quality of the fuel oil, promoting in the Table 6. It is seen from the Table 6 that with the
increased wear and fouling of engine components. increase in pyrolysis temperature, the ash content,
Carbon residue is the amount of carbon that is made moisture and volatile matter decreases. The reason
by a chemical process, when oil is heated in absence may be, at low temperature pyrolysis % yield of coke
of oxygen. obtained is high than the high temperature pyrolysis
The diesel fuel and lube oil mainly, suffer from the which contain large molecule hydrocarbons and thus
deposition of carbon residue. As the diesel fuel could be further decomposed to lower hydrocarbon.
contain aromatic compound, which favourably reacts The volatile matter of 15.86 wt. % was obtained for
via evaporation and repolymerization results in the coke obtained at the temperature of 500°C.
complex molecule structures that appears as carbon Whereas, the volatile matter of 7.91 wt. % was
residue. Table 4 shows that the carbon residues of obtained for the coke obtained at the temperature of
pyrolysis oil obtained at different temperature are in 800°C. The coke obtained was almost dry irrespective
the range of 2.2-2.8 % (wt. %) which is very less. of pyrolysis temperature. Thus, moisture (wt. %) of
This implies that the aromatic content in the pyrolysis all the residue (coke) were in the range of 0.39-0.21
oil is less and have a less tendency for carbon wt. %. The ash content was 14.20 wt. % for the low
deposition in diesel engine. temperature pyrolysis (500°C), whereas, it was 8.92
wt. % for high temperature pyrolysis (800°C). May be
Table 3 — Flash and fire point of pyrolysis oil obtained at 500, Table 5 — API Gravity of pyrolysis oil obtained at the
600, 700 and 800°C temperature of 500, 600, 700 and 800°C

Pyrolysis oil obtained at different Flash Point Fire Point Pyrolysis oil obtained at Specific gravity API Gravity (Deg.)
temperature (°C) (°C) (°C) different temperature (°C)
500 35 39 500 0.7381 60.2032
600 36 41 600 0.7599 54.7038
700 36 42 700 0.7684 52.6536
800 35 41 800 0.7818 49.4856

Table 4 — Carbon residue of pyrolysis oil obtained at Table 6 — Proximate analysis of solid residue obtained at the
500, 600, 700 and 800°C temperature of 500, 600, 700 and 800°C.
Pyrolysis oil obtained at Carbon residue Pyrolysis Ash content Moisture Volatile matter
different temperature (°C) (wt. %) Temperature (°C) (wt. %) (wt. %) (wt. %)
500 2.4 500 14.20 0.39 15.86
600 2.2 600 9.47 0.28 10.59
700 2.5 700 9.19 0.25 8.32
800 2.8 800 8.92 0.21 7.91
342 INDIAN J. CHEM. TECHNOL., JULY 2018

the low temperature process produces the coke specifically interesting for the pyrolysis oil (700°C)
containing more complex molecule resinous structure which contains major compounds, are similar as that
compared to the high temperature process. This results of kerosene oil and diesel oil in terms of chemical
in high wt. % of ash at low temperature (500°C). structure22. However, within the retention time range
1 to 7 min and 18 to 20 min GC peaks are found for
Calorific value of pyrolysis oil and solid residue pyrolysis oil and diesel oil only and it may be because
The gross calorific value (GCV) of pyrolysis oil of compounds lining similar boiling point range. The
obtained at the temperature of 500, 600, 700 and
800°C are summarized in Table 7. Table 7 — Gross calorific value of pyrolysis oil obtained at 500,
The GCV of pyrolysis oil obtained at a temperature 600, 700 and 800°C.
of 700°C was maximum i.e. 11360 Cal g-1, whereas, it Pyrolysis oil obtained at different GCV
was minimum 8657.37 Cal g-1 for the pyrolysis oil temperature (°C) (Cal g-1)
obtained at the temperature of 500°C. The GCV of 500 8657
standard diesel, gasoline and kerosene are 10717 Cal g-1, 600 10442
11315 Cal g-1 and 11052 Cal g-1 respectively. Table 7 700 11360
shows that GCV of pyrolysis oil obtained at the 800 10756
temperature of 600°C and 700°C are comparable to
standard diesel and kerosene. The ASTM
characteristics also give similar information for the
pyrolysis oil (600°C and 700°C) to be very close to
standard diesel and kerosene (Fig. 4). However,
pyrolysis temperature 500°C produced the oil close to
gasoline. The GCV of solid residue (coke) obtained at
the temperature of 500, 600, 700 and 800°C were
2405.67 Cal g-1, 2240.47 Cal g-1, 2171.19 Cal g-1 and
1940.81 Cal g-1 respectively. This data shows that
GCV of coke decreases with the increase in pyrolysis
temperature. The, reason may be, the volatile matter
content in solid residue is more at low temperature
pyrolysis (500°C) compared to high temperature
(800°C) as reported in Table 6.
Fig. 5 — Gas chromatography characteristics of pyrolysis oil
obtained at 500oC in three different batches batch-1, batch-2 and
Gas Chromatography
batch-3.
The reproducibility of experimental data were
checked performing the experiment in three different
batches keeping the pyrolysis conditions similar in all
the experiments. Figure 5 shows the gas
chromatography analysis of pyrolysis oils of batch-1,
batch-2 and batch-3 using SE-32 column coupled with
flame ionization detectors (FID). It is seen from Fig. 5
that the retention time and corresponding peaks of the
GC analysis are in the same position for all three
pyrolysis oils obtained in batch-1, batch-2 and batch-3.
This ensures that the pyrolysis oil contains similar
composition for all three batches.
Figure 6 shows the GC-FID of the pyrolysis oil
derived by the pyrolysis of the polyethylene at 700°C,
commercial kerosene oil and diesel oil. The
chromatograms for pyrolysis oil (700°C) are very
Fig. 6 — Gas chromatography characteristic of pyrolysis oil
close to kerosene and diesel oil in the range between obtained from the polyethylene at a temperature of 700oC,
7 and 18 minutes of retention time. This range may be Kerosene oil (commercial) and Diesel oil (commercial).
 GAURH & PRAMANIK: PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PYROLYSIS OIL USING WASTE POLYETHYLENE 343

Table 8 — Comparison of peaks observed at about same retention time between pyrolysis oil (700°C), commercial kerosene and diesel.
Peak position at retention Area % Peak position at retention Area % Peak position at retention Area %
time for Pyrolysis oil time for commercial time for commercial Diesel
(700°C) (min) Kerosene(min) (min)
0.72 2.02 Peak not observed ----- 0.72 0.03
0.82 0.55 Peak not observed ----- 0.80 0.03
0.97 0.25 0.96 0.01 0.95 0.01
1.14 5.74 1.12 0.01 1.12 0.07
1.61 0.50 1.58 0.01 1.56 0.15
1.98 3.26 1.95 0.01 1.92 0.55
2.87 0.66 2.82 0.01 2.82 0.05
3.19 0.02 Peak not observed ----- 3.22 0.54
3.65 2.25 Peak not observed ----- 3.60 0.27
4.06 0.59 3.99 0.47 3.98 2.98
4.67 0.01 Peak not observed ----- 4.71 2.21
5.22 0.63 5.24 2.00 5.19 4.26
5.57 2.84 5.65 0.86 5.60 1.57
6.14 0.06 Peak not observed ----- 6.19 0.04
6.40 0.18 6.49 6.07 6.41 1.16
7.01 0.52 7.02 8.18 6.95 2.42
8.11 0.02 8.14 0.98 8.06 0.62
8.35 0.03 Peak not observed ----- 8.40 1.41
9.55 2.68 Peak not observed ----- 9.55 5.71
10.10 0.02 10.01 0.11 10.01 0.43
10.41 0.17 10.43 0.30 10.40 1.79
11.63 2.37 Peak not observed ----- 11.71 5.95
12.54 0.10 Peak not observed ----- 12.56 0.50
12.85 0.03 12.91 0.74 12.89 2.46
13.71 0.49 13.76 10.14 13.74 6.07
14.44 0.05 14.37 0.02 14.45 0.19
14.95 0.01 Peak not observed ----- 15.03 1.58
15.71 0.32 15.68 2.94 15.69 5.54
16.66 0.05 16.60 0.22 16.64 1.61
18.60 0.06 18.52 0.13 18.62 4.01
19.33 5.35 19.29 0.26 19.42 6.96

important and prominent peaks obtained at same distillation (Fig. 4) also substantiate the GC data of
retention time for the pyrolysis oil (700°C), pyrolysis oil (700°C) to be in the line similar to diesel.
commercial kerosene oil and diesel oil are grouped
and the results are shown in Table 8 for comparison, Conclusion
as it is difficult to find out the individual components The experimental results of PE pyrolysis and
and their isomers in the pyrolysis oil. Table 8 shows analyses of products show that the process can be a
the retention time and peak % area of different very good option for production of valuable liquid
components of pyrolysis oil (700°C), commercial hydrocarbon suitable for diesel engine. In addition,
kerosene and diesel from GC-FID. A comparison is this method may possibly reduce the plastic waste
shown to check the suitability of the use of pyrolysis load to dumping ground. Pyrolysis oil of mostly diesel
oil in diesel engine and confirm its composition. It is range at a temperature of 700°C is produced with the
clearly seen in the Table 8 that the retention time and proper selection of L/D ratio of the reactor of 1.2 and
corresponding peaks of the pyrolysis oil (700oC) with the control of pyrolysis temperature. The
almost matched with majority of the components of maximum liquid yield of 72.6% at a temperature of
diesel which are highlighted in the table. The ASTM 800°C is obtained by thermal pyrolysis with minimum
344 INDIAN J. CHEM. TECHNOL., JULY 2018

amount of coke formation (9.48 wt %). However, 7 Sharma B, Moser B, Vermillion K, Doll K & Rajagopalan N,
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to be similar to diesel after 50 % distillate. The 10 Marco I D, Caballero B M, Lopez A, Laresgoiti M F, Torres
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