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1.2.The Aim of Project is :
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Chapter Two
Theory of Project and Literature Survey
2.1-Plastics :
Unlike paper and wood, plastics do not absorb much moisture and the
water content of plastics is far lower than the water content of biomass
such as crops and kitchen wastes.
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The conversion methods of waste plastics into fuel depend on the types of
plastics to be targeted and the properties of other wastes that might be
used in the process.
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Fig 2,2 polyethylene properties .
2.1.2-Properties of polyethylene :
1)Mechanical properties :
Polyethylene is of low strength, hardness and rigidity, but has a high
ductility and impact strength as well as low friction. It shows strong creep
under persistent force, which can be reduced by addition of short fibers. It
feels waxy when touched.
2)Thermal properties :
The usefulness of polyethylene is limited by its softening point of 80 C
(176 F) (HDPE, types of low crystalline softens earlier). For common
commercial grades of medium- and high-density polyethylene the melting
point is typically in the range 120 to 180 C (248 to 356 F). The melting
point for average, commercial, low-density polyethylene is typically 105
to 115 C (221 to 239 F). These temperatures varies strongly with the
type of polyethylene.
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3) Chemical properties :
Polyethylene consists of nonpolar, saturated, high molecular weight
hydrocarbons. Therefore, its chemical behavior is similar to paraffin. The
individual macromolecules are not covalently linked. Because of their
symmetric molecular structure, they tend to crystallize; overall
polyethylene is partially crystalline. Higher crystallinity increase density
and mechanical and chemical stability. Most LDPE, MDPE, and HDPE
grades have excellent chemical resistance, meaning they are not attacked
by strong acids or strong bases, and are resistant to gentle oxidants and
reducing agents. Crystalline samples do not dissolve at room temperature.
Polyethylene (other than cross-linked polyethylene) usually can be
dissolved at elevated temperatures in aromatic hydrocarbons such as
toluene or xylene, or in chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethane or
trichlorobenzene. Polyethylene absorbs almost no water. The gas and
water vapor permeability (only polar gases) is lower than for most
plastics; oxygen, carbon dioxide and flavorings on the other hand can
pass it easily.PE can become brittle when exposed to sunlight, carbon
black is usually used as a UV stabilizer.Polyethylene burns slowly with a
blue flame having a yellow tip and gives off an odour of paraffin (similar
to candle flame). The material continues burning on removal of the flame
source and produces a drip .Polyethylene can not be imprinted or stuck
together without pretreatment.
2.2.1-LDPE:
The oldest type. A soft, tough and flexible polyethylene type, used for
strong, flexible consumer items, like screw caps and lids. For a long time
already, it is also used as insulation material. At present the most popular
application is foil, from which carrier bags, packaging material and
agricultural plastic are made. During the high water levels in Holland in
the last years, the tough strong LDPE foil served as an improvised
reinforcement for the dikes.
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2.2.2-HDPE:
This is the sturdiest and most inflexible type. Its sturdy and somewhat
tough character can be used for a large range of applications. For example
the well-known gft-container and a number of everyday domestic
products like bottles, clothes pegs and the handle of a washing-up brush.
Although HDPE is quite heavy, it can also be used for paper-thin foil that
is extremely light and feels crispy. All of us use this type of foil daily;
examples are sandwich bags, pedal bin bags or packaging for vegetables,
fruit or meats.
2.2.3-LLDPE:
Poly(ethene) is produced in three main forms: [4] low density (LDPE) (<
0.930 g cm-3) and linear low density ( LLDPE) (ca 0.915-0.940 g cm-3)
and high density (HDPE) (ca 0.940-0.965 g cm-3). The LDPE or LLDPE
form is preferred for film packaging and for electrical insulation. HDPE
is blow-moulded to make containers for household chemicals such as
washing-up liquids and drums for industrial packaging. It is also extruded
as piping.
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2.3.1-Low Density Poly(Ethene) (LDPE) :
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Fig 2,3 structure of polyethylene.
There are about 20 branches per 1000 carbon atoms. The relative
molecular mass, and the branching, influence the physical properties of
LDPE. The branching affects the degree of crystallinity which in turn
affects the density of the material. LDPE is generally amorphous and
transparent with about 50% crystallinity. The branches prevent the
molecules fitting closely together and so it has low density.
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of a chain of monomers thats produces by polymerization of ethylene
C2H4 thats produced mainly from CDU unit as refinery gases
(petroleum refinery process) and thermal cracking units. So we can
reverse this process to convert the polymer to hydrocarbon (liquid fuel oil
and gases) by applying the suitable heating amount or suitable
temperature of thermolysis of plastic.
2.4.1-Typical Processes :
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variety of fragment sizes meaning that a mixture of product chemicals
results. Catalysts are used by some processes to tailor the resultant
chemical species that is, by, confining the materials formed to a
narrower range. Even where catalysts are employed the conversion to
desired product will not be complete. The more specific processes aiming
at diesel production typically convert just over 80% of the incoming
plastic to this fuel. The remainder of the product will be nontarget
materials such as lighter petroleum gases, gasoline etc. A residue is
formed by material that cannot be converted to vapour. Materials not
found in the product stream will comprise other process residues
including fillers used in the original plastics and any contamination that
entered with the feedstock. Disposal of this will be necessary but it will
be a small fraction of the original plastic waste. Due to the thermal nature
of the method, process heat is required for the initial cracking stage and
for the separation of products - this can be provided directly from the
products and by-products. The equipment required for each system is
suitable for exploitation on a small scale with moderate inventories of
raw material and diesel product. There are examples of exploitation that
indicate their technical viability.
Fig 2,4 illustrates a typical process; a description of each process stage is presented
below.
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2.4.2-Material preparation :
2.4.3-Feed to process :
this is the vessel within which the plastic is heated to the necessary
temperature for the reaction to occur. As discussed above this is
conducted in the absence of oxygen, which would otherwise influence the
reaction products and present a fire hazard. There is only one exit for
desired products and that is as a vapour exiting the vapour space in the
reactor. Other materials remaining in the reactor will be residues and will
be continuously or periodically extracted. The product vapours pass
overhead to a separation train where they will be refined. Some
processing of reactor residues may be possible dependent on the details of
the individual process.
2.4.5-Separation train
the vapours exiting the reactor are mixed hydrocarbons varying from
heavy and diesel oils through gasoline to petroleum gases - many of the
components canbe selectively condensed by controlled cooling. At its
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most sophisticated this separation train will comprise a distillation system
employing heating and cooling to enable well defined separations.
Heavier vapours will condense first and some may not be readily
condensed at all, these lighter materials will be product gases. It is
control of this stage that will determine the blend of materials making up
each reactor product. The gases remain an overhead product and have
fuel value for heating or electrical generation.
2.4.6-Liquid products :
2.4.7-Utility requirements :
Utilities are the services used by the facility and will include
electricity and water. The reactor has a heating requirement as will most
separation systems. Further requirements may be dictated by the approach
taken for the preparation stage.
2.4.8-Example Processes :
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2.4.9-Process Economics:
- construction
- Maintenance costs
The first two cost types are generally referred to as capital costs and need
to be spreadover the operating life of the facility either via suitable write
off period or an interest payment approach. These are then added to the
other operating costs. When compared with a realistic sale price the
economic justification for establishing such a facility can be assessed. In
examining the economic justification for any planned facility it is also
important to make allowance for the funds necessary to prepare feasibility
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studies etc since these sums are at risk should the project be abandoned.
Figures derived in this way may appear attractive when compared with
fuel pump prices as there is a significant tax content in the price paid by
the final consumer. It is important to understand the method of
application of this taxation to ensure that a fair comparison is made with
other sources of fuel. In the UK the manufacture of diesel fuel (and other
fuel types) is subject to excise duty.
Hence a duty becomes payable to HM Customs and Excise when the fuel
is manufactured (rather than when it is sold or transferred). The producer
needs to recover the cost of production and this excise duty when the fuel
is sold. VAT will also be charged on the sale price (currently 17.5%). At
present the manufacture of diesel from renewable resources such as
vegetable oils attracts less excise duty than from traditional raw material.
The definition of materials that qualify for this lower rate is restrictive
and currently only certain processes with specific product qualities are
eligible.
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Fig 2,6 Experimental apparatus diagram of recycling process .
1. Efficient
3. Eco Friendly
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6. Easy to setup (modular and mobile unit)
8. Creates jobs
10. Easy to work with existing recycling and city waste facilities
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Fig 2,9Plant process of plastic recycling .
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Fig 2,10 Plant process of plastic recycling .
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2.5-Literature survey :
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3. PYROLYSIS OF HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE
(HDPE) WASTE PRODUCTS INTO USEFUL FUELS by
Abdulkareem S. A. 1 and Eleburuike N. A. 2+
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5.CONVERSION OF LDPE PLASTIC WASTE INTO LIQUID
FUEL BY THERMAL DEGRADATION By 1GAURAV,
2MADHUKAR M, 3ARUNKUMAR K.N., 4N S LINGEGOWDA
Plastics have woven their way into our daily lives and now pose a
tremendous threat to the environment. Over a 100 million tonnes of
plastics are produced annually worldwide, and the used products have
become a common feature at overflowing bins and landfills. Though
work has been done to make futuristic biodegradable plastics, there have
not been many conclusive steps towards cleaning up the existing
problem. Here, the process of converting waste plastic into value added
fuels is explained as a viable solution for recycling of plastics. Thus two
universal problems such as problems of waste plastic and problems of
fuel shortage are being tackled simultaneously. In this study, plastic
wastes (low density polyethylene) were used for the pyrolysis to get fuel
oil that has the same physical properties as the fuels like petrol, diesel etc.
Pyrolysis runs without oxygen and in high temperature of about 300C
which is why a reactor was fabricated to provide the required temperature
for the reaction. The waste plastics were subjected to depolymerisation,
pyrolysis, thermal cracking and distillation to obtain different value added
fuels such as petrol, kerosene, and diesel, lube oil etc. Converting waste
plastics into fuel hold great promise for both the environmental and
economic scenarios. Thus, the process of converting plastics to fuel has
now turned the problems into an opportunity to make wealth from waste.
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Chapter three
Experimental Work
3.1-Apparatus :
1) Pyrolysis reactor :cylindrical rector of carbon steel (2 inch diameter
and 12 cm height) which was jacketed with 1.5 kw heater
surrounded with thermal isolation for energy conversation.
2) The reactor was connected with thermo couple of J type which was
connected to (on-off) thermal controller.
3) The decanter of 5L volume was connected to reactor by using
copper pipe and filled by water.
3.3-Procedure of Experiments :
The equipment was installed like in fig, 3.1. the heater was operated to
generate heat of pyrolysis decomposition . the temperature was controlled
by controller. The plastic reached melting point about 130 t0 150C. at
200C light gases started to rises from reactor to decanter generating the
bubbles . At the vaporization point the vapors started to rise to decanter
making the first drop of liquid fuel on the surface of water inside decanter
. vaporization point for HDPE was 296C and 277C for the waste
plastic. The vapors was condensed by decanter forming two layers of
liquids which is water and fuel oil or liquid product we can separate
them by density difference. The gases is non-condensable by-
products, that was released to atmosphere.
3) it was like first experiment but with using plastic waste discarded of
yoghurt and detergent bottles, the plastic waste was placed inside reactor
with different runs each run had it's temperature degree to obtain the
weight of product for each run.
4) the HDPE was placed in reactor at 375C and 20 g of raw material for
obtaining the weight of product of different times by using stopwatch.
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Fig, 3,1 the configuration of the process .
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Note that we used the decanter instead the condenser
because of the condenser rejection heat less than
decanter because of the density of water is higher than
the density of air inside the tubes of condenser, and the
mixing action of fluids during the heat exchanging is more
efficient than by unmixed action . And as recommended
on literatures the decanter separates different liquids by
mean of density difference .
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Fig, 3.2 liquid products .
Chapter four
The Results and Discussion
Temperat
ure wt of
product
(C) (g)
259 0
275 6.0781
295 8.0002
11.604
315 2
13.406
335 5
15.994
355 3
375 17.867
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14.023
395 4
415 12.023
wt of raw wt of recovery
material
(g) product(g) %
10 6.842 68.42
20 17.867
28 89.335
25 18.304 73.216
30 22.065 73.55
35 16.068 45.90857
fig 4.2 plot of results of second experiment.
Note :
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4.3-Effect of temperature for plastic waste:
In third experiment, we used the pieces of waste plastic (detergent and
yoghurt bottles) instead HDPE on first experiment. We placed 20 g of
these plastic pieces in the reactor with different temperature degrees to
obtain the following results:
Temperature wt of
product
(C) (g)
277 0
290 3.51
310 5.546
350 11.067
376 14.715
380 15.13
397 16.92106
400 17.09
410 8.219
430 6.106
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Fig 4.3 plot of results of third experiment.
Time
(min) wt of
product(g
)
0 8.063
10 12.01
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20 15.0678
25 16.0784
26.05 16.9873
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Chapter five :
Conclusions and future works
5.1- conclusions :
5.2-future works :
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References :
3- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene .
4- www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/polymers/polyethene.html .
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