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

Pyrolysis of waste plastics to useful energy. Final report, August 29, 1983-December 31, 1984

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5236579

This report covers the work completed under United States Department of Energy Contract No. AC01-83CE40639 entitled ''Pyrolysis of Waste Plastics to Useful Energy''. The objectives of this research and development program were to: determine the applicability of a specific coil pyrolysis process developed under DOE Contract No. AC01-83CE40639 to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic waste; determine the applicability of the same process to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste; determine the applicability of this process to mixed waste streams of industrial importance (specifically, the plastic wire insulation and PET beverage bottle streams); and establish the quality and consistency of quality of the pyrolysis products from this process for these applications. It was determined that the coil pyrolysis process is not applicable to PVC conversion to fuel. An alternative pyrolysis approach to PVC was considered and is regarded as potentially feasible. It was determined that the coil pyrolysis process is not applicable to PET conversion. While working on the PET coil pyrolysis process, a PET separation process was developed which offered a commercially feasible route from PET beverage bottles to reusable PET plastic. This development led to a commercial operation of 1500 lb/h plastics recovery in South Windsor, Connecticut. It was concluded that the coil pyrolysis process is applicable to the conversion of the HDPE bases of the PET plastic beverage bottles. It was concluded that the coil pyrolysis process was not applicable to the PET remainder of the beverage bottle or the waste wire stream. An alternate pyrolysis process was considered and is regarded as potentially feasible. It is recommended that development work be continued on these alternative pyrolysis processes.

Research Organization:
Procedyne Corp., New Brunswick, NJ (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC01-83CE40639
OSTI ID:
5236579
Report Number(s):
DOE/CE/40639-T1; ON: DE85015378
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English