Hydrocarbons obtained by waste plastic pyrolysis: Comparative analysis of decomposition described by different kinetic models

Thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste

“…The kinetics of degradation and the pyrolysis mechanism are still being studied and discussed. Degradation has a very complex mechanism, so adequate description of decomposing a mixture of polymers is difficult, even more so in the presence of catalysts and a process with several stages [7,30] . In order to solve this problem there are some methods based on the mass loss curve during pyrolysis.…”

“…The actual reason for the differences between the rates of degradation of the macromolecules has been explained by the distortion of electron density from the degraded polymer, which depends primarily on the side group linked to the main chain of the macromolecule. For this reason, polypropylene (PP) is less stable than polyethylene (LDPE, HDPE or LLDPE), for example [7] . The mechanism of degradation of polymers has generally been described as free radical in the case of a thermal process without catalyst.…”

“…This increase in the amount of waste does cause some environmental problems, since plastics do not degrade quickly and can remain in the environment for a long time [1][2][3][4][5] . A large part of this waste is disposed of in landfills or is incinerated [6,7] . However, the plastic waste are bulkier than other organic residues and thus occupy massive space in landfills and therefore the proper disposal and incineration have high costs.…”

“…However, the plastic waste are bulkier than other organic residues and thus occupy massive space in landfills and therefore the proper disposal and incineration have high costs. Furthermore, incineration of these waste plastics results in environmental problems due to increased emission of harmful compounds [2,[6][7][8] .…”

“…Thus, much research in the area of recycling and reuse of these post-consumed polymers have been carried out in order to produce raw materials and energy [1,3,7] . The various types of recycling are good options to control the increase of plastic waste, because they are environmentally friendly when compared with incineration and disposal in landfills.…”