Catalytic Microwave Process for Upgrading of Pyrolysis Liquids from Ubiquitous Plastic Wastes

催化微波工艺对无处不在的塑料废物中的热解液进行升级

• 批准号: EP/Y001168/1
• 负责人: Joseph Wood
• 金额: $ 67.97万
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY001168%2F1
• 关键词: Catalytic; Microwave; Process; Upgrading; Pyrolysis

Plastics are ubiquitous in modern life, with global production of ~260 million tonnes per year and only 9 % recycled in 2019. 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced in total and predicted 12 billion tonnes in landfill or environment by 2050, taking 400 years to degrade naturally. In future, a strong growth in demand for and production of plastics is expected, whilst concerns for the greenhouse effect necessitate that carbon dioxide emissions and reliance on fossil fuels are decreased to meet legislation. Plastics can be recycled via a range of mechanical, thermal and chemical techniques, each route having advantages and disadvantages. Some chemical recycling techniques, such as glycolysis, are applicable only to particular types of polymer. Other routes, such as mechanical recycling, produce a lower grade product, whilst thermal techniques require a high energy input. Mixed waste, including halogenated polymers such as polyvinyl chloride presents a challenge, as the chlorine is a potential catalyst poison. A recycling and upgrading process is thus required that can process a range of different pyrolysis oils derived from polymers as part of a mixed waste stream, can deal with contaminants and produce a value-added product.In Catawave we aim to address the above issues and develop a robust and energy efficient process to upgrade pyrolysis liquids derived from a range of plastic waste streams. To do this we bring together several novel requisite technologies, which will include the development of bespoke catalysts to effectively upgrade the pyrolysis oils. These will be formulated from industrial metal processing or mining waste by-products such as 'red mud' and known hydrocarbon cracking catalysts such as zeolite ZSM-5, and select samples will incorporate microwave susceptible carbon particles to aid their heating. We will assess whether microwave or induction heating in a flow reactor can deliver a more effective and energy efficient process compared with conventional resistive heating, in conjunction with the developed catalysts. The upgraded oil products will be characterised using a range of techniques, with aim of upgrading to increase the value of products, including upscaling to meet standards required for drop-in fuels. Fresh and spent catalyst will be characterised using a range of techniques to understand their catalytic behaviour and deactivation. The results of the experimental studies will be applied to develop a kinetic model using lumped approach comprising component groups, which would be used to inform the design and scale-up of reactors for an industrialised process. Techno-economic modelling will be developed to inform the process scalability and profitability, for example the selection of tonnage throughput, distributed or centralised processing of waste. We have engaged Project Partners from across the waste producing, recycling, fuels and process simulation sectors including Sabien Technology Plc, Halocycle, Severn Trent Green Power, Pressvess and Mitsubishi Chemical. They will provide samples of pyrolysis oil for upgrading, advise on catalyst formulations, assist with process design and economic evaluation, give technical consultation on the work plan and help setup routes to commercialisation and impact delivery as outlined in their letters of support.

塑料在现代生活中无处不在，全球每年生产约2.6亿吨，在2019年只有9％的回收率。总共生产了83亿吨塑料，并预测到2050年，垃圾填埋场或环境中预计120亿吨塑料，需要400年才能自然退化。将来，预计对塑料的需求和生产的强劲增长，而人们对温室效应的担忧需要减少二氧化碳排放和对化石燃料的依赖以符合立法。塑料可以通过一系列机械，热和化学技术进行回收，每种路线具有优势和缺点。某些化学回收技术，例如糖酵解，仅适用于特定类型的聚合物。其他路线（例如机械回收）会产生低级产品，而热技术则需要高能量输入。混合废物，包括卤代聚合物（例如聚氯化物）的混合废物提出了挑战，因为氯是一种潜在的催化剂毒药。因此，需要进行回收和升级过程，该过程可以处理作为混合废物流的一部分衍生自聚合物的一系列不同的热解油，可以处理污染物并生产增值产品。为此，我们汇集了几种新颖的必要技术，其中包括定制催化剂的开发以有效地升级热解油。这些将由工业金属加工或采矿废物副产品（例如“红色泥浆”）和已知的碳氢化合物开裂催化剂（如沸石ZSM-5）制定，并且精选样品将结合微波炉易感碳颗粒以帮助其加热。我们将评估流动反应器中的微波或感应加热与与常规电阻加热相比，与已发达的催化剂相比，是否可以提供更有效和节能的过程。升级的石油产品将使用一系列技术来表征，目的是升级以提高产品的价值，包括升级以满足倒入燃料所需的标准。新鲜和花费的催化剂将使用一系列技术来理解其催化行为和失活。实验研究的结果将应用于使用组件组组成的集体方法来开发动力学模型，该方法将用于为工业化过程的反应堆的设计和扩展提供信息。将开发技术 - 经济建模，以告知流程的可扩展性和盈利能力，例如选择吨位吞吐量，分布式或集中式废物处理。我们已经参与了来自废物生产，回收，燃料和过程模拟领域的项目合作伙伴，包括Sabien Technology plc，卤代，Severn Trent Green Power，PressVess和Mitsubishi Chemical。他们将提供热解油的样本，以升级，建议催化剂配方，协助过程设计和经济评估，就工作计划进行技术咨询，并帮助设置商业化和影响交付的途径，如他们的支持信中所述。