Investigation and characterization of polypropylene plastic waste pyrolysis oil: Effect of temperature and fractional condensation

The escalating accumulation of polypropylene (PP) plastic waste poses significant environmental challenges, requiring innovative waste management strategies. Pyrolysis of plastic waste presents a promising approach for sustainable production of alternative fuels. However, pyrolysis oil possesses undesirable properties for direct fuel applications, requiring additional upgrading steps before being utilized for specific purposes. Fractionation offers an effective method for the separation of pyrolysis oil. This study investigates the pyrolysis of PP plastic waste with three-stage condensers system, focusing on the effect of temperature and fractional condensation on the yield and characteristics of pyrolysis oil. Experiments were conducted within temperature range of 400, 410, 425, 430, 440, to 450 degrees C, with the aim of optimizing the generation of liquid products. The pyrolysis vapors were sequentially passed through three condensers. Results indicate that the maximum bio-oil was obtained at 450 degrees C as optimum temperature, which consists of 2.32% gases (C-1-C-5), 41.94% gasoline (C-6-C-11), 44.15% kerosene (C-12-C-20), and 11.59% residue (> C-20). The distribution of compounds was influenced by fractional condensers, with the highest relative contents of compounds obtained from condenser 1, 2, and 3 were gasoline (79.28%), kerosene (51.97%), and gasoline (55.21%), respectively. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to characterize the chemical and physical properties of bio-oils. The characterization results reveal that the pyrolysis oil obtained from PP plastic waste are dominated with 1-heptene-5-methyl (C8H16). The composition of pyrolysis oil demonstrated favourable and suitable properties for potential applications as renewable fuels and chemical feedstocks.