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Biomass Conversion to Produce Hydrocarbon Liquid Fuel Via Hot-vapor Filtered Fast Pyrolysis and Catalytic Hydrotreating
Published on: December 25, 2016
Pyrolysis of polystyrene waste for recovery of combustible hydrocarbons using copper oxide as catalyst
Jan Nisar1, Ghulam Ali1, Afzal Shah2,3
1National Center of Excellence in Physical Chemistry, University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Abstract:
The present work is focused on pyrolysis of polystyrene waste for production of combustible hydrocarbons. The experiments were performed in an indigenously made furnace in the presence of a laboratory synthesised copper oxide. The pyrolysis products were collected and characterised. The Fourier transform infrared spectra showed that the liquid fraction contains C-H, C-O, C-C, C=C and O-H bonds, which correspond to various aliphatic and aromatic compounds. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry traced compounds ranging from C1 to C4 in the gaseous fraction, whereas in the liquid fraction 15 components ranging from C3 to C24 were detected. From the results it has been concluded that CuO as a catalyst not only increased the liquid yield but also reduced the degradation temperature to great extent. Fuel properties of the pyrolysis oil were determined and compared with standard values of commercial fuel oil. The comparison suggested potential application of pyrolysis oil for domestic and commercial use.
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