Abstract
Despite the calorific value of plastic waste being comparable to that of fossil fuels, its direct utilisation in the internal combustion engine is not a viable option due to a technical difficulty in optimising the equivalence ratio. To address this issue, this study proposes a pyrolysis system for the conversion of plastic waste, especially high density polyethylene (HDPE), into liquid fuels compatible with aircraft turbojet engines. Given a broad spectrum of pyrogenic hydrocarbons (HCs) derived from HDPE, it is important to shorten the chain length to produce aviation fuel-like products with carbon numbers ranging from 8 to 16. To this end, this study modified the typical pyrolysis setup by additionally adopting a heating element, isothermally operated at 500–800 °C. Also, the condensation system for collecting the pyrogenic HCs was designed using two consecutive units (set as 20 and −40 °C) for the selective recovery of jet-fuel-range HCs. The reaction temperature of 600 °C exhibited the similar composition of HDPE-derived fuel with commercial aviation fuels (Jet-A, JP-8, and JP-5). Subsequently, thermodynamic calculations of HCs collected in the second trap were performed in an ideal turbojet engine cycle. It was confirmed that the fuel performances of HDPE-derived fuel (produced at 600 °C) were comparable to commercial ones. Therefore, this study proposed that modification of pyrolysis and condensation system facilitated the production of jet-fuel-range HCs derived from HDPE. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 118827 |
Journal | Energy Conversion and Management |
Volume | 315 |
Early online date | Jul 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2024 |