Process simulation of plastics pyrolysis for the production of fuels and chemical feedstock

International Conference and Exhibition on Biopolymers & Bioplastics

August 10-12, 2015 San Francisco, USA

Nasir M A Al Lagtah

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is a type of polyolefin plastic, which is a common domestic plastic waste. Polyolefins account
for 57% of the total amount of plastics present in household waste, of which polyethylene is the most abundant type of this group.
In this study, Aspen HYSYS (a process simulation package) is used to design, simulate and optimize two proposed processes for the
pyrolysis of LDPE in order to produce liquid hydrocarbons that are suitable for biofuel production. The first proposed process consists
of a simple pyrolysis simulation that generalised the process products into three groups, while the simulation of the second process
takes into consideration a more complex product description. The main aim of this study is to contribute to pollution prevention
and treatment by providing a valuable mechanism that will improve the research on plastic pyrolysis. The simulation results show
that it is possible to simulate and optimize the LDPE pyrolysis process using Aspen HYSYS with more accuracy than other methods
that have been applied before. The results of the complex simulation model show a greater agreement with the experimental data
compared to the simpler model. Therefore, the description of the process was more detailed, improving the quality of the predictions
of the pyrolystates. The more detailed product description, not only has increased the prediction accuracy of the pyrolysis process
performance, but also the process diagram is more detailed, providing more complete operational specifications, including the duties
needed for the LDPE pyrolysis process.

Biography :

Nasir M A Al-Lagtah joined Newcastle University International Singapore (NUIS) on January 2014 as a lecturer in chemical engineering. Before that, he was a
lecturer (teaching focused) at Manchester University UK. He obtained his PhD in chemical engineering from Queen’s University of Belfast in 2008. His research
interests include further utilization of lignin residue (biorefinery by-product), production of biodiesel using heterogeneous catalysts, modelling and simulation of
bioenergy processes using Aspen Plus (thermal conversion of lignin, biodiesel production, glycerol (biodiesel by-product) utilization to produce value-added
products.