Feedstock recycling of waste plastics in an oil refinery: Scenario development based on sorting and pyrolysis experiments
Hajime Ohno, Shogo Kumagai, Jun Nakatani, Yasuhiro Fukushima, Toshiaki Yoshioka
Abstract
Focusing on plastic packaging waste, this study aimed to design feedstock recycling scenarios by harnessing industrial processes in a region and to specify the technological requirements to obtain climate benefits. The amount and resin composition of plastic packaging waste that could be collected from the region surrounding an oil refinery and sorted using different sorting schemes were projected. A pyrolysis experiment using samples tailored to mimic the projected composition and distillation test of the obtained oil were conducted. Then, greenhouse gas emissions in various pyrolysis scenarios were evaluated considering oil substitution by pyrolysis products and surplus heat utilization. Results indicated that, when the amount and quality of pyrolysis oil were appropriately adjusted by two-step preliminary sorting of plastic packaging waste and surplus heat could be utilized as substitute for fossil fuels at the refinery, the technological requirement to achieve net zero emission by the feedstock recycling were alleviated.