1.

INTRODUCTION
Plastics are polymeric materials, a material built up from long repeating chains of molecules.
Polymers such as rubber occur naturally, but it wasn't until the development of synthetic
polymers around 1910 that the polymers tailored to the needs of the engineer first started to
appear. One of the first commercial plastics developed was Bakelite and was used for the casing
of early radios. Because the early plastics were not completely chemically stable, they gained a
reputation for being cheap and unreliable. However, advances in plastic technology since then,
mean that plastics are a very important and reliable class of materials for product design.
Plastic is a marvel of polymer chemistry, plastics have become an indispensable part of our daily
life. But repeated reprocessing of plastic waste, and its disposal cause environmental problems,
pose health hazards, in addition to being a public nuisance. The biggest current threat to the
conventional plastics industry is likely to be environmental concerns, including the release of
toxic pollutants, greenhouse gas and non-biodegrable landfill impact as a result of the production
and disposal of petroleum and petroleum based plastics.

2. WHAT ARE PLASTICS?

The term "plastic" covers a wide range of synthetic polymer materials. What they have in
common is that they are all made by joining together or "polymerizing" a bunch of molecules
(monomers). There are two main families of plastics, thermosetting and thermoplastics.

2.1 TYPES OF PLASTIC

Bakelite

Polystyrene and PVC

Nylon

Rubber

Synthetic rubber

2.2 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the molecular bonds that make plastic so durable
make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of
plastic has been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years. In some
cases, burning plastic can release toxic fumes. Burning the plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) may
create dioxin. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical
pollutants.
Prior to the ban on the use of CFCs in extrusion of polystyrene (and general use, except in lifecritical fire suppression systems; see Montreal Protocol), the production of polystyrene
contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer; however, non-CFCs are currently used in the
extrusion process.
To assist recycling of disposable items, the Plastic Bottle Institute of the Society of the Plastics
Industry devised a now-familiar scheme to mark plastic bottles by plastic type. A plastic
container using this scheme is marked with a triangle of three cyclic arrows, which encloses a
number giving the plastic type:
Unfortunately, recycling plastics has proven difficult. The biggest problem with plastic recycling
is that it is difficult to automate the sorting of plastic waste, and so it is labor intensive. Typically,
workers sort the plastic by looking at the resin identification code, though common containers
like soda bottles can be sorted from memory. Other recyclable materials, such as metals, are
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easier to process mechanically. However, new mechanical sorting processes are being utilized to
increase plastic recycling capacity and efficiency.

3. CONVERTING WASTE PLASTIC INTO LIQUID FUEL

Many may not realize throwing away plastic is throwing away a ready fuel source. Plastic is
primarily petroleum and burns with high efficiency. Plastics are commonly made from fossil
fuels which is usually an irreversible process, process have been developed which recycles
plastic waste back into oil. ThermoFuel technology is used to convert Waste Plastic into Liquid
Fuel. ThermoFuel is a ten year old commercially proven technology with nine operational plants
in Japan. Thermofuel is a process where scrap and waste plastics are converted into synthetic
fuel. The system uses liquefaction, pyrolysis and the catalytic breakdown of plastics. The system
can handle almost all the plastic that is currently being sent to landfills. A major advantage of the
process is its ability to handle unsorted, unwashed plastic and its extremely high efficiency. A
ThermoFuel plant can produce up to 9,500 liter of high-grade synthetic fuel from 10 tonnes of
waste plastics, with systems ranging from 10 to 20 tonnes per day. This means that heavily
contaminated plastics can be processed without difficulty.

4. STRUCTURE OF THE SYSTEM

The system consists of stock in feed system, pyrolysis gasification chamber, catalytic converter,
condensers, centrifuge, oil recovery line, off-gas cleaning, and adulterant removal. Waste plastics
are loaded via a hot-melt in feed system directly into main pyrolysis chamber. When the chamber
temperature is raised, agitation commences to even the temperature and homogenize the feed
stocks. Pyrolysis then commences to the point of product gasification. Non-plastic materials fall
to the bottom of the chamber. The gas goes through the (patented) catalytic converter and is
converted into the distillate fractions by the catalytic cracking process. The distillate then passes
into the recovery tank after cooling in the condensers. From the recovery tank, the product is sent
to a centrifuge to remove contaminants such as water or carbon. The cleaned distillate is then
pumped to the reserve tank, then to the storage tanks.

Plastic Paste

Melt Feeding

Settling tanks

Oil/Water

Filtration

Pyrolysis

Condensation

Homogeniation

Catalytic
Conversion

Molecules
Rearranging

Fuel
Generators
Machinery

Figure-1 Structure of the System

5. OPERATIONS
5.1 PRE-TREATMENT
Pre-treatment, depending on the form of delivery of plastics to the plant, may include shredding
and granulating. The system accepts granulated to a flake size of 2.5 cm or less in order for it to
be conveyed and metered uniformly via a melt infeed system into the chamber. However,
Thermofuel can process most sizes and types of plastics with suitable pre-treatment equipment.

5.2 PYROLYSIS
The heart of the pyrolysis system is the prime chamber, which performs the essential functions of
homogenization, controlled decomposition and out gassing in a single process. The process
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requires minimal maintenance apart from carbon residue removal, and produces consistent
quality distillate from mixed and low-grade plastic waste. The key to an efficient pyrolysis
process is to ensure the plastic is heated uniformly and rapidly. If temperature gradients develop
in the molten plastic mass then different degrees of cracking will occur and products with a wide
distribution of chain lengths will be formed.
Pyrolysis is a process of thermal degradation in the absence of oxygen. Plastic waste is
continuously treated in a cylindrical chamber and the pyrolytic gases condensed in a speciallydesigned condenser system to yield a hydrocarbon distillate comprising straight and branched
chain aliphatics, cyclic aliphatics and aromatic hydrocarbons. The resulting mixture is essentially
equivalent to petroleum distillate. The plastic is pyrolised at 370C-420C and the pyrolysis gases
are condensed in a 2- stage condenser to give a low sulphur content distillate.
The essential steps in the pyrolysis of plastics involve:
Evenly heating the plastic to a narrow temperature range without excessive temperature
variations.
Purging oxygen from pyrolysis chamber.
Managing the carbonaceous char by-product before it acts as a thermal insulator and lowers
the heat transfer to the plastic .
Careful condensation and fractionation of the pyrolysis vapours to produce distillate of good
quality and consistency.
Pyrolysis is used as a form of thermal treatment to reduce waste volumes and produce liquid or
gaseous fuels as a byproduct. There is also the possibility of using pyrolysis systems integrated
with other processes such as mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion. The
agricultural waste is pyrolised at a temperature of 450 to 550 C.

5.2.1 TYPES OF PYROLYSIS TECHNIQUES:

In our study, we intended to divide pyrolysis into pyrolysis with the use of catalysts and pyrolysis without
the use of catalysts. Pyrolysis process, which uses catalysts, can take place in two different kinds of batch
reactor

Pyrolysis using expensive catalysts:

Pyrolysis using synthesized catalysts from fly ash:

Pyrolysis without the use of catalysts:

The process carried out is the same in this case also but catalysts are not
used. Instead the temperature parameters are varied.

Commercial technology (CFFLS pyrolysis technology):

Plastic
Waste
Pyrolysis Reactor

Cleaning

oil
Fig .2(CFFLS pyrolysis technology)

CFFLS (Consortium for fossil fuel liquefaction science) technology is implemented by

USA.Here; plastic is subjected to a very simple pretreatment process of shredding of waste to 110cm size. The shredded materials are then subjected to magnetic and eddy current cleaning
steps. In pyrolysis at about 600 degrees centigrade for 1hr about 80% of oil yield is obtained,
which is relatively low in chlorine content (1-10ppm).
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5.2.2 Future prospects of pyrolysis technology:

Pyrolysis is a very promising and reliable technology for the chemical recycling of plastic
wastes. Countries like UK, USA, and Germany etc have successfully implemented this
technology and commercial production of monomers using pyrolysis has already begun there.
Pyrolysis offers a great hope in generating fuel oils, which are heavily priced now. This reduces
the economical burden on developing countries. The capital cost required to invest on pyrolysis
plant is low compared to other technologies. So, this technology may be the beacon light in the
future to a world, which is now on the verge of acute fuel shortage.
5.2.3 There are 3 pyrolysis products:
1. A combustible gas that is burned to generate the heat required for the endothermic pyrolysis
reaction. No extra heat or fuel source is required.
2. A liquid bio-oil that can be used as a fuel. The bio-oil cannot be used directly in car engines. It
is converted to a syngas from which clean fuels and petrochemicals can be synthesized, using
well-established technologies.
3. A solid char that can either be burned for energy or recycled as a fertilizer.
5.2.6 The Process
Under controlled reaction conditions, plastics materials undergo random de-polymerization and
is converted into three products:
a) Solid Fuel Coke
b) Liquid Fuel Combination of Gasoline, Kerosene, Diesel and Lube Oil
c) Gaseous Fuel LPG range gas
The process consists of two steps:
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i) Random de-polymerization
- Loading of waste plastics into the reactor along with the Catalyst system.
- Random de-polymerization of the waste plastics.
ii) Fractional Distillation
- Separation of various liquid fuels by virtue of the difference in their boiling points.
One important factor of the quality of the liquid fuel is that the sulphur content is less than 0.002
ppm which is much lower than the level found in regular fuel.

5.2.7 Principals Involved

All plastics are polymers mostly containing carbon and hydrogen and few other elements like
chlorine, nitrogen, etc. Polymers are made up of small molecules, called monomers, which
combine together and form large molecules, called polymers.
When this long chain of polymers break at certain points, or when lower molecular weight
fractions are formed, this is termed as degradation of polymers. This is reverse of polymerization
or de-polymerization.
If such breaking of long polymeric chain or scission of bonds occur randomly, it is called
Random depolymerization. Here the polymer degrades to lower molecular fragments.
In the process of conversion of waste plastics into fuels, random depolymerization is carried out
in a specially designed reactor in the absence of oxygen and in the presence of coal and certain
catalytic additives. The maximum reaction temperature is 350oC. There is total conversion of
waste plastics into value-added fuel products.

Unique features of the process and product obtained are:

All types of Plastics Waste including CDs and Floppies having metal inserts,
laminated plastics can be used in the process without any cleaning operation. Inputs
should be dry.

Bio-medical plastics waste can be used.

About 1 litre of Fuel is produced from 1 kg of Plastics Waste. Bye-products are Coke
and LPG Gaseous Fuel.

Any possible dioxin formation is ruled out during the reaction involving PPVC waste,
due to the fact that the reaction is carried out in absence of oxygen, a prime
requirement for dioxin formation.

This is a unique process in which 100% waste is converted into 100% value-added
products.

The process does not create any pollution.

Though the fuel so produced from the plastics waste could be used for running a four-stroke/100
cc motorcycle at a higher mileage rate, the inventor agrees that separation of petrol from the
liquid fuel could be a complex generation. Nevertheless the product is good enough for use as an
alternative clean fuel in boilers and other heating systems.
It is, however, not the first time that fuel has been produced out of plastics waste. A Japanese
company, M/s. Ozmotec, is already manufacturing fuel out of plastics waste at an industrial plant
in Japan employing the Pyrolysis process. However, Prof. Zadgaonkars process is a continuous
one and hence is cheaper, whereas the Japanese technology is a batch process and is
comparatively costlier.
A live demonstration of the production of Liquid Fuel was made in the presence of ICPE led
team in the laboratory. Three kgs of plastics scrap was used to produce about 2 litres of Liquid
Fuel in about 3 hrs. The reaction was terminated after the trial demo. The fuel obtained was used
in smooth running of a motorcycle, which was experienced by the visiting members. However,

the inventor does not wish to claim the product as a substitute for Petrol or Diesel at this stage.
The present use would be as a fuel for running boilers and other heating purposes.

6. THE CATALYTIC BREAKDOWN

The core technology of the Thermofuel process is the catalytic reaction tower (or catalytic
converter) on the exit side of the main pyrolysis chamber. The catalyst is important because it
lowers the amount of energy that is required to break down the structure of the waste plastics. As
well as promoting the initial cracking of the polymers, the catalysts are used to promote the
production of a heavier fuel suitable for the manufacture of diesel and gasoline. Only a small
amount of catalyst material is lost during the conversion process. The catalytic reaction tower
contains a system of plates made from a special catalytic metal alloy. Thermofuel requires no
additives or consumable catalytic consumables. The metal plates do get fouled with a tar-like
residue and terephthalic acid and therefore the reaction tower needs to be stripped down
periodically and the plates polished, generally every 6 months to once a year. The maintenance
service can be quickly performed (approx. 1 hour) with minimal plant down time, using spare
catalytic plates. The catalyst chamber is heated using the exhaust gases from the furnace of the
pyrolysis chamber.
The gas from the pyrolysis chamber is feed to the catalytic converter and is converted into the
distillate fractions by the catalytic cracking process. The metal catalyst cracks parafinic chains
longer than C25 and reforms chains shorter than C6. The catalyst ensures that the final fuel has
a carbon chain distribution in the range C8-C25 and peaking at C16 (cetane), which is very
similar to standard fuels. The liquid distillate then passes into the operating tank after cooling in
the condensers. From the operating tank, the product is sent to a centrifuge to remove
contaminants such as water or carbon.

7. COLLECTION OF LIQUID FUEL

As the plastics are reduced, the gases are collected and cooled, yielding liquid fuel. This liquid
fuel or crude oil is a complex mixture that has to be separated in a fraction chamber to form
gasoline and diesel. The remaining incondensable gases pass through the top of the fraction
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chamber and are either burnt off in a flare stack or fed back to the initial stage of the process
where they are used as an additional fuel to heat the incoming plastic materials.

8. OPERATING FEATURES OF THERMOFUEL

8.1 PLASTICS SUITABLE FOR TREATMENT
ThermoFuel process can be done on waste plastics such as:
1. Plastic packaging scrap from material recovery/sorting facilities
2. Oil and detergent bottles
3. Mixed post-consumer plastics,
4. Caps/Labels/Rejected bottles from bottle recycling operations,
5. Commercial stretch and shrink wrap.

8.2 PRE-TREATMENT
Input feedstock plastics do not require washing or sorting. The plastics can be shredded or
granulated prior to being fed through a melt-infeed system into the chamber so almost any shape
or size of waste plastics can be handled. The system is designed to cope with these foreign
materials up to approximately 10% by weight or volume. So no pre-treatment is needed.

8.3 POLLUTION
ThermoFuel produces extremely low level of emissions, due to the capture of almost all of the
output, both liquids and gases, inside the system. Pyrolysis of plastics tends to occur on irregular
basis, hence the carbon chain lengths of the pyrolytic gases vary between 1-25. Most of the gas is
liquefied in the condensers but some remains as gas. This high calorific gas contains methane,
ethane, propane, butane, etc. This gas is reused to heat the Pyrolysis chamber.

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9. OUTPUT FUEL
The typical mass balance for one tonne of mixed polyolefin plastic entering the process is
approximately 90% hydrocarbon distillate, 5% char, as well as 5% gaseous material known as
non-condensable gases. The non-condensable gas from the ThermoFuel plant is passed through a
water scrubber and then fed into the natural gas flow for the burner, which heats the unit so there
are no net hydrocarbon emissions. The hydrocarbon fraction in turn comprises approximately
75% distillate cut and 25% paraffin material. The paraffin fraction is continuously cracked after
the first condenser until it reaches the desired chain-length range and then added to the primary
fuel stream.
Advantages
Reduces pollution helps in waste plastic degradation.
Cheaper and quality fuel.
Perfect solution for waste plastic, rubber, tyre management.
Raw material readily available.

10. APPLICATIONS:
The distillate is designed to operate in a diesel engine where it is injected into the compressed,
high-temperature air in the combustion chamber and ignites spontaneously. Thermo Fuel is
perfectly suited to any standard application.

11. CONCLUSION
ThermoFuel is a truly sustainable waste solution, diverting plastic waste from landfills, utilizing
the embodied energy content of plastics and producing a highly usable commodity that is more
environmentally friendly than any conventional distillate. The Thermofuel system converts these
waste plastics into high-grade "green" distillate fuel. The result of this process is claimed to be a
virtually nonpolluting, (100%) synthetic fuel that does not require engine modification for
maximum efficiency. Post consumer, post-industrial unwashed and unsorted waste plastics are
the feedstock for the Thermofuel process, and with an expected production efficiency of over
93%, the resultant diesel output would almost equal the waste material input.

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12. REFFERENCE
1. http://www.biofuelsforum.com/general_biodiesel_discussion/658-plastic_diesel.html
2. www.biofuel.com
3. www.thermofuel.com
4. www.envofuel.com
5. www.Cynarplc.com
6. http://www.ftns.wau.nl/agridata/apme/plastics.html
7. http://www.packagingtoday.com/introplasticexplosion.html

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