International Journal of Waste Resources

Metal deposition in the pyrolysis of waste plastics

2^nd World Congress and Expo on Recycling

July 25-27, 2016 Berlin, Germany

James F Costello

University of the West of England, UK

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Int J Waste Resour

Abstract:

The thermal recycling of waste plastics such as Tetra Pak is achieved via pyrolysis using a semi-pilot plant scale (â??100g) fluidized bed reactor. Resultant oils are sampled from the condensation streams, and chars are collected from the reactor, pre- and postgas filters. The organic products are characterized using NMR, GC and GC-MS. Both organic and inorganic materials are analyzed by ICP-OES and SEM-EDX in order to characterize the deposition of metals throughout the pyrolysis vapor stream. SEM is used to identify and characterize the different morphologies of materials retrieved from the sand bed reactor. It has been demonstrated that NMR is a useful tool for the rapid characterization of the paraffin, olefin and aromatic functional group ratios for these potential valuable oils. Metal distribution is low amongst the oils, and those traces that are present are consistent with corrosion from the reaction vessel. In the case of laminated aluminium plastics such as Tetra Pak, very pure aluminium is deposited in the sand bed char and metal immobilization throughout is again consistent with reactor corrosion. Indeed, the level of metal contamination found in the chars is such that they may be considered hazardous materials in terms of land fill disposal.

Biography :

Email: James.Costello@uwe.ac.uk