Open Access

ARTICLE

Effect of Active Zeolite in the Pyrolysis of Polypropylene and Low Density Polyethylene Types of Plastic Waste

Aman Santoso^1,*, Amirotus Sholikhah¹, Sumari Sumari¹, Muhammad Roy Asrori¹, Anugrah Ricky Wijaya¹, Rini Retnosari^1,2, Ihsan Budi Rachman^1,3

1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, 65145, Indonesia
2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM Bangi, Selangor, 43600, Malaysia
3 Graduate School of Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Saitama, 3378570, Japan

* Corresponding Author: Aman Santoso. Email:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2022, 10(11), 2781-2789. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2022.021401

Received 12 January 2022; Accepted 29 March 2022; Issue published 29 June 2022

Abstract

Plastic is a basic need for humans, but it has also caused big problems for the environment. Then, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the type of plastic and the addition of a zeolite catalyst on the oil yield from the pyrolysis of plastic waste. The research stages were natural zeolite activation, pyrolysis reactor settings, pyrolysis of plastic waste (PP and LDPE types), and characterization. The results showed that the used natural zeolite had a mordenite phase and activated natural zeolite had a higher Si/Al ratio than the inactivated one. The addition of a zeolite catalyst had an effect on the produced yield. The yields of oil from plastic waste pyrolysis with zeolite catalyst for PP and LDPE plastics were about 75.9 and 76.9 w/w, respectively. The results of the GCMS analysis showed that the compounds of the pyrolysis oil were thought to be from the alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, carboxylic acids with aromatic rings, and ketones. The results of the GC-MS test showed that the uncatalyzed pyrolysis product consists of compounds with a range of C₅-C₁₁ carbon chains. Meanwhile, the ranges of pyrolysis products with active zeolite catalyst were C₆-C₂₄ carbon chains.

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