Production of fuel oil from decomposition of polypropylene over Cu-Co-modified molecular sieve-based catalyst

• Published in: Chemical engineering research & design 2022-08, Vol.184, p.207-214
• Main Authors: Nisar, Jan, Khan, Muhammad Anas, Shah, Afzal, Farooqi, Zahoor Hussain, Sharif, Ahsan, Ahmed, Ejaz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fuel properties; Kinetics; Oil; Polypropylene; Pyrolysis
• ISSN: 0263-8762
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2022.05.039

This work describes the use of copper-cobalt doped molecular sieve (Cu-Co/MS) for decomposition of polypropylene via thermogravimetry and an indigenously made pyrolysis setup. Various kinetic models i.e., Ozawa Flynn Wall (OFW), modified Coats-Redfern (m-CR) and Tang Wanjun (TW) were employed for calculating kinetics parameters of the decomposition process. The suitability of Cu-Co/MS catalyst was confirmed from the lowest activation energy (E) noted for the pyrolysis reaction. Therefore, the decomposition reaction of polypropylene was performed in the presence of same catalyst in the indigenously made pyrolysis setup and an oil yield of 71.1% having hydrocarbons from C5 to C19 was achieved. Furthermore, aliphatic hydrocarbons from C3 to C7 were also noted in the gas fraction. Fuel properties of the oil obtained were compared with diesel, gasoline and kerosene oil and found that the oil obtained from polypropylene has the possibility replacing fossil fuel. •Pyrolysis of polypropylene was performed over copper-cobalt doped molecular sieve.•Kinetics parameters were determined using Ozawa Flynn Wall, Coats-Redfern and Tang Wanjun methods.•The suitability of catalyst was confirmed from the lowest activation energy for the reaction.•Fuel properties of the pyrolysis oil confirmed the possibility of replacing fossil fuel.