Plastic waste conversion into fuel by utilizing biomass waste as heating system on pyrolysis process

Abstract

Abstract Human population is growing continuously. Indonesia, as a developing country, has a significant population growth that is projected to reach more than 300 million people by 2035. Beside of abundance of labor force, a significant increase in population has the potential to cause waste problems due to community activities. Plastic is one type of waste that has a negative impact on the environment because it cannot be decomposed directly. Several methods have been proposed to tackle this problem. One technology that is already proven is plastic waste conversion into liquid fuel by means of pyrolysis process. Pyrolysis is thermal decomposition of organic compound by application of intense heating in a minimum oxygen environment to produce simpler compound, in this case is liquid fuel. On the other hand Indonesia as an agrarian country that has abundant biomass supply which is a potential energy source. Therefore, it can be used to supply heat energy in pyrolysis reactors to convert plastics into liquid fuels. This research is a manifestation of applied sciences, in which the process can be practiced by the general public. Plastic waste in the form of plastic bottle waste is reduced in size to 4-9 cm2 so that the pyrolysis process runs optimally. The plastic waste as reactor feed is varied by 500 gram, 750 gram, 1000 gram, 1250 gram, 1500 gram, 2000 gram. Each amount of plastic is put into the pyrolysis reactor for 3-5 hours, and got heated by biomass combustion with average temperature of 412 °C. In the pyrolysis reactor, gaseous phase product of plastic decomposition then flow through a cooler where it changes into liquid phase. The volume of liquid product of pyrolysis process is then measured to calculate the yield of each process variable: 142 ml, 156 ml, 165 ml, 216 ml, 236 ml, and 258 ml. Optimum results are shown in the 500 gram pyrolysis feed process with a yield of 28,4%. The average yield of the pyrolysis process is 18.6%. Therefore, this work has applied waste to energy paradigm, by converting a waste in the form of plastics into a product that has economic value and can be utilized as an energy source for community.