Pyrolysis as a value added method for plastic waste management: A review on converting LDPE and HDPE waste into fuel

Abstract The global demand for plastic is increasing year by year due to its indispensable uses and excellent properties. The rate of post-consumer plastic waste discarded into the environment is also increasing in parallel with the demand for plastics. The amount of plastic waste generated varies based on its uses such as household, industrial, commercial, hospital, and others. Plastic wastes persist for many years due to their slow deterioration and cause severe environmental problems. Therefore, there is a growing focus worldwide on plastic waste disposal methods to overcome adverse environmental impacts. As the plastics are petroleum-based materials, the pyrolysis of plastics to fuel oil, gases, and char, has a great concern than the other plastic waste management methods of recycling and landfilling. A yield of 70-80 wt.% of liquid fuel from a pyrolysis waste has been reported elsewhere which emerges the importance and aptness of this method in plastic waste management. This paper review the existing literature on pyrolysis processes developed for HDPE and LDPE wastes globally and their governing factors of heating rate, temperature, processing time, polymer to catalysts ratio, type of the catalysts, and type of the reactor that influenced the yields of fuel oil and gases