Title: Catalytic degradation of waste rubbers and plastics over zeolites to produce aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract

Catalytic conversion of waste rubbers and plastics into aromatic hydrocarbons is a promising approach to waste management and energy recovery. In the present study, acidic HY zeolites were supported by cobalt, iron, and zirconium, and the catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, ammonia temperature programmed desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and pyridine-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Here, the catalytic degradation of waste polybutadiene rubbers (BR) was conducted to investigate the degradation mechanism and evaluate the catalytic activity of supported zeolites. Experimental results indicated that HY loaded by zirconium and iron led to a higher content of Lewis acid sites as opposed to cobalt supported one. Compared with the non-catalytic pyrolysis of BR, the zirconium supported HY (Zr/HY) led to a 10-fold increase in aromatic hydrocarbons production with a distinctively high selectivity of 97.9%. A series of waste polymers including waste tires (WT), polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC), and BR, were subjected to catalytic pyrolysis to explore the effects of polymer type on aromatic hydrocarbons generation, and BR was the most effective substrate, with yield enhancement reaching 2.4 over Zr/HY. Catalytic co-pyrolysis of waste rubbers and plastics was conducted to probe the effect of polymer structure on aromatic hydrocarbons formation, wheremore » a significant synergistic effect was observed in the PE co-fed with PC run.« less

Authors:

Wang, Jia ^[1]; Jiang, Jianchun ^[1]; Sun, Yunjuan ^[2]; Wang, Xiaobo ^[3]; Li, Mi  ^[4];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Li, Mi"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-7523-1266"

Pang, Shusheng  ^[5];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Pang, Shusheng"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-9785-1711"

Ruan, Roger ^[6]; Ragauskas, Arthur J.  ^[4];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Ragauskas, Arthur J."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-3536-554X"

Ok, Yong Sik ^[7]; Tsang, Daniel C.W.  ^[8]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Tsang, Daniel C.W."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-6850-733X"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Nanjing Forestry Univ. (China); Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Nanjing (China)
2. Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Nanjing (China)
3. Nanjing Xiaozhuang Univ. (China)
4. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
5. Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch (New Zealand)
6. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
7. Korea Univ., Seoul, (Korea, Republic of)
8. Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ. (Hong Kong)

Publication Date:

Mon May 10 00:00:00 EDT 2021

Research Org.:

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; Hong Kong Research Grants Council

OSTI Identifier:

1804999

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-00OR22725; 52006106; BK2020789; 2020TQ0154; PolyU 15217818

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of Cleaner Production

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 309; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0959-6526

Publisher:

Elsevier

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Catalytic pyrolysis; Sustainable waste management; Polybutadiene rubber; Plastic recycling/valorization; Aromatic hydrocarbons