Reactor Modeling for Up Scaling a Plastic Pyrolysis Process

Abstract

The European commission compiled a strategic for a circular economy, for this reason recycling of post-consumer plastics (PCP) has to be expanded (European Commission 2018). Therefore, feedstock recycling can be an option, aiming on products of lighter hydrocarbons, which can be reprocessed in petrochemical plants or used as fuels. For this purpose, a solvent-based thermal cracking process has been developed in previous works. A highly aromatic and high boiling by-product of the refinery is used as carrier fluid. Thus mechanical and thermal properties of plastics are improved to enhance processability. (Lederer 2013) To investigate the complex reaction scheme of plastic pyrolysis lumped kinetic modeling is used. For this reason, pseudo-components are defined as lumps, classified in boiling cuts, which simplifies the reactions.