Obtaining Zeolites from Natural Materials of Volcanic Origin for Application in Catalytic Pyrolysis for the Sustainable Chemical Recycling of Polymers

Angel Gabriel Valencia-Huaman, Sandro Henry Fuentes-Mamani, Luis Fernando Mamani- De La Cruz, Francisco Velasco, Rossibel Churata, Alejandro Silva-Vela, Jose Mamani-Quispe and Jonathan Almirón ()
Additional contact information
Angel Gabriel Valencia-Huaman: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Sandro Henry Fuentes-Mamani: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Luis Fernando Mamani- De La Cruz: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Francisco Velasco: Materials Science and Engineering Department, IAAB, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28005 Madrid, Spain
Rossibel Churata: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería de Materiales, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Alejandro Silva-Vela: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería de Materiales, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Jose Mamani-Quispe: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru
Jonathan Almirón: Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Calle Santa Catalina Nro. 117 Cercado, Arequipa 04001, Peru

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-15

Abstract: The present investigation studies the use of three natural precursors of volcanic origin (pozzolana, ignimbrite and pumice) in the synthesis of low-cost and environmentally friendly zeolites. The developed zeolites were evaluated as sustainable catalysts for the catalytic pyrolysis process in the chemical recycling of polypropylene. A zeolite was synthesized from each precursor. The hydrothermal treatment was performed with NaOH (3M) at 160 °C for 72 h and NH 4 Cl (1M) was added to convert it into proton form. The synthesized zeolites were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM and BET. The evaluation of the catalytic ability of the obtained zeolites was carried out with polypropylene mixed with a 4, 6 and 8 wt.% catalyst in a ceramic crucible. Pyrolysis was always carried out at 450 °C and for 30 min in a tubular furnace with a continuous flow rate of 250 L·min −1 of gaseous nitrogen. The gases generated were captured in the cooling system. The characterized zeolites show a resemblance to the ZSM-5 commercial zeolite, especially for the ignimbrite and pozzolan zeolites. Likewise, in pyrolysis, liquid products, gases and waxes were obtained. As the amount of catalyst was increased (from 4 to 8%), the yield of the desired liquid–gas products was also increased. The synthesized zeolites showed similar pyrolytic characteristics to ZSM-5, although they did not reach the same pyrolytic efficiency. Zeolites improved the pyrolysis products, especially at 8 wt.%, when compared to thermal pyrolysis. This study highlights the potential of the developed zeolite catalysts to efficiently convert PP into valuable light olefins, advancing sustainable polyolefin recycling technologies.

Keywords: zeolite; synthesis; pyrolysis; polypropylene; ZSM-5; volcanic materials; catalytic efficiency; chemical recycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/5910/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/5910/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:5910-:d:1432884

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().