Can low-thickness, low-value mixed plastic waste be converted into petrochemical fuels on a large scale?
- 1Fuels Research Center, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, A Central University under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India Vadodara Gujarat India
- 2Department of Fuel, Minerals and Metallurgical Engineering (FMME), Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad Dhanbad Jharkhand India
Abstract
Disposal of low-thickness, low-value mixed plastic waste is a global problem that experts are addressing through various waste-treatment technologies. Catalytic pyrolysis is one such technology for converting plastic waste into valuable petrochemical fuels. However, most researchers have focused on bench-scale experiments in controlled environments, which limits the technology's scale-up. In addition, most of the existing research studies examine either individual or 3–4 mixtures of virgin plastic waste streams, which may not accurately reflect the complexities of processing diverse, real-world mixed plastic waste. Hence, the current study aims to address the above issues by treating large-scale, low-value, low-thickness single-use plastic mixed waste, comprising filler-rich plastic bags, multi-layered plastics, and dairy product packaging, etc., without segregation, washing, or inert gas usage. About 1.8 metric tons per day (600 kg per batch) of the said materials were processed for producing raw pyro-oil with a yield of 57–66% and pyro-gas and pyro-char as by-products. Subsequently, the raw oil was upgraded into pyro-fuel-cut 1 and pyro-fuel-cut 2, and their physicochemical properties were compared with the commercial petrochemical fuels.
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BibTeX
@article{chintala2026lowthickness,
title = {{Can low-thickness, low-value mixed plastic waste be converted into petrochemical fuels on a large scale?}},
author = {Venkateswarlu Chintala and Mayuri Shaiwale and Sachinkumar Makwana and Ritesh Kumar Mishra},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra07768d},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13673522},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Can low-thickness, low-value mixed plastic waste be converted into petrochemical fuels on a large scale?
AU - Venkateswarlu Chintala
AU - Mayuri Shaiwale
AU - Sachinkumar Makwana
AU - Ritesh Kumar Mishra
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra07768d
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13673522
AB - Disposal of low-thickness, low-value mixed plastic waste is a global problem that experts are addressing through various waste-treatment technologies. Catalytic pyrolysis is one such technology for converting plastic waste into valuable petrochemical fuels. However, most researchers have focused on bench-scale experiments in controlled environments, which limits the technology's scale-up. In addition, most of the existing research studies examine either individual or 3–4 mixtures of virgin plastic waste streams, which may not accurately reflect the complexities of processing diverse, real-world mixed plastic waste. Hence, the current study aims to address the above issues by treating large-scale, low-value, low-thickness single-use plastic mixed waste, comprising filler-rich plastic bags, multi-layered plastics, and dairy product packaging, etc., without segregation, washing, or inert gas usage. About 1.8 metric tons per day (600 kg per batch) of the said materials were processed for producing raw pyro-oil with a yield of 57–66% and pyro-gas and pyro-char as by-products. Subsequently, the raw oil was upgraded into pyro-fuel-cut 1 and pyro-fuel-cut 2, and their physicochemical properties were compared with the commercial petrochemical fuels.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -