Plant Design and Production of Fuel from Plastic Waste

The demand for commodity plastics has been increasing due to the rapid growth of the world population. This has generated high quantities of waste plastic annually because of the non-biodegradable nature of plastics. Plastic waste management is therefore, one of the many challenges confronting most countries including Ghana. As calorific value of the plastics is comparable to that of fuel, so production of fuel would be a better alternative.

This project focused on the pyrolysis of plastic waste, particularly, polyethylene, to liquid fuel. The material and energy requirements for production of 50 tonnes /day liquid fuel were estimated. Some selected equipment of the pyrolysis plant was designed. Economic analysis of the plant was also performed to determine the feasibility and profitability of the project.

The liquid fuel produced may be used in furnaces, boilers, turbines and diesel engines without further refining. The by-product, which is gaseous hydrocarbons has high calorific value that can be reused to compensate the overall energy requirement of the pyrolysis plant.

The theoretical energy required to pyrolyze 1kg of polyethylene is 1.047 MJ. The estimated calorific value of the products is about 43.3 MJ/kg. The economic analysis undertaken in regards to this project revealed over 50% rate of returns which makes the project a very feasible and profitable avenue.