Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Thermal and catalytic degradation of high and low density polyethylene into fuel oil

Conference ·
OSTI ID:430479

The degradation of four different types of polyethylene (PE) namely high density PE (HDPE), low density PE (LDPE), linear low density PE (LLDPE), and cross-linked PE (XLPE) was carried out at 430 {degrees}C by batch operation using silica-alumina as a solid acid catalyst and thermally without any catalyst. For thermal degradation, both HDPE and XLPE produced significant amount of wax-like compounds and the yield of liquid products were lower than that of LDPE and LLDPE. LDPE and LLDPE also produced small amount of wax-like compounds. Thus the structure of the degrading polymers influenced the product yields. The liquid products from thermal degradation were broadly distributed in the carbon fraction of n-C{sub 5} to n-C{sub 25} (boiling point range, 36-405 C). With silica-alumina, the polyethylenes were converted to liquid products with high yields (77-83 wt%) and without any wax production. The liquid products were distributed in the range of n-C{sub 5} to n-C{sub 20} (Mostly C{sub 5}-C{sub 12}). Solid acid catalyst indiscriminately degraded the various types of polyethylene into light fuel oil. 5 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.

OSTI ID:
430479
Report Number(s):
CONF-960730--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

The Effects of Polyolefin Structure and Source on Pyrolysis-Derived Plastic Oil Composition
Journal Article · Wed Oct 30 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Green Chemistry · OSTI ID:2475641

Acid properties of silica-alumina catalysts and catalytic degradation of polyethylene
Journal Article · Tue Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 1993 · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research · OSTI ID:142352

The morphology of blends of linear and branched polyethylenes
Conference · Sat Dec 30 23:00:00 EST 1995 · OSTI ID:535330