Issue 20, 2023

Critical issues for the deployment of plastic waste pyrolysis

Abstract

Despite the urgent need to valorize plastic waste, stopping its uncontrolled release into the environment, and the increased availability of consolidated thermal and catalytic technologies, the large-scale deployment of pyrolysis as a reference technology for the efficient processing of plastic waste still faces significant challenges. Accordingly, this review is focused on a number of issues that are essential for the industrial development of plastic waste pyrolysis technologies: i) the use of heterogeneous catalysts for better control of the product properties and the softening of the operation conditions, analyzing the important limitations derived from catalyst deactivation, ii) the different types of treatments investigated for the safe removal of halogens, which are often present in pyrolysis oils in the form of Cl- and Br-containing organic compounds, thus avoiding health and environmental problems and the corrosion of equipment, iii) the co-processing of plastic waste with other feedstocks (biomass, petroleum fractions, used tires, etc.), which may result in significant synergistic effects, and iv) the multi-scale modelling of plastic pyrolysis processes as an essential tool for the design of large scale plants.

Graphical abstract: Critical issues for the deployment of plastic waste pyrolysis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
31 Mar 2023
Accepted
22 Jul 2023
First published
14 Aug 2023

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2023,13, 5799-5820

Critical issues for the deployment of plastic waste pyrolysis

E. Giglio, A. Marino, P. Pizarro, J. M. Escola, M. Migliori, G. Giordano and D. P. Serrano, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2023, 13, 5799 DOI: 10.1039/D3CY00445G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements