Municipal Plastic Waste Recycling through Pyrogasification

Cristina Moliner, Giovanni Pasquale and Elisabetta Arato ()
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Cristina Moliner: Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering—DICCA, University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 15a, 16145 Genova, Italy
Giovanni Pasquale: Prometeo Energia, 16121 Genova, Italy
Elisabetta Arato: Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering—DICCA, University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 15a, 16145 Genova, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: Conventional mechanical recycling technologies cannot recycle all types and amounts of generated plastic waste. Pyrolysis can convert these municipal mixed plastic streams into products with significant calorific value, which are likely to be used as energy sources. The present work describes a technology used to expand the portfolio of technical approaches to drive plastics circularity, i.e., thermochemical recycling. A base case scenario considered a capacity of 1.000 kg/h of municipal plastic waste, consisting of a mixture of polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), and plastic associated with paper, which were converted into non-condensable gases, oil, and char through a pyrogasification system. Based on mass and energy balances and experimental data from the literature, a total of 199.4 kg (48 MJ/kg) of liquid fuel and 832.85 kg (16 MJ/kg) of gas could be obtained with no need for external heating sources. The thermal requirement for the pyrolysis of 1.000 kg of municipal plastic waste (1.316 MJ) was supplied by the gasification of a fraction of the produced pyrolysis oil and gases. This feasibility analysis confirmed the technical adequacy of the proposed technology, which that will be further complemented by a technoeconomic study of the proposed solution.

Keywords: municipal plastic waste (MPW); pyrogasification; chemical recycling; green fuel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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