Single-Use Disposable Waste Upcycling via Thermochemical Conversion Pathway

Abstract

Herein, the pyrolysis of two types of single-use disposable waste (single-use food containers and corrugated fiberboard) was investigated as an approach to cleanly dispose of municipal solid waste, including plastic waste. For the pyrolysis of single-use food containers or corrugated fiberboard, an increase in temperature tended to increase the yield of pyrolytic gas (i.e., non-condensable gases) and decrease the yield of pyrolytic liquid (i.e., a mixture of condensable compounds) and solid residue. The single-use food container-derived pyrolytic product was largely composed of hydrocarbons with a wide range of carbon numbers from C1 to C32, while the corrugated fiberboard-derived pyrolytic product was composed of a variety of chemical groups such as phenolic compounds, polycyclic aromatic compounds, and oxygenates involving alcohols, acids, aldehydes, ketones, acetates, and esters. Changes in the pyrolysis temperature from 500 °C to 900 °C had no significant effect on the selectivity toward each chemical group found in the pyrolytic liquid derived from either the single-use food containers or corrugated fiberboard. The co-pyrolysis of the single-use food containers and corrugated fiberboard led to 6 times higher hydrogen (H2) selectivity than the pyrolysis of the single-use food containers only. Furthermore, the co-pyrolysis did not form phenolic compounds or polycyclic aromatic compounds that are hazardous environmental pollutants (0% selectivity), indicating that the co-pyrolysis process is an eco-friendly method to treat single-use disposable waste.