Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment

Pyrolysis is widely seen as a promising technology for converting plastic waste into a wax/oil product which can be used as a heavy fuel oil substitute or as raw material by the petrochemical industry. A pyrolysis plant with a capacity of 100 kg/h plastic waste is modelled in the process simulation...

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Main Authors: Fivga, Antzela, Dimitriou, Ioanna
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/
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author Fivga, Antzela
Dimitriou, Ioanna
author_facet Fivga, Antzela
Dimitriou, Ioanna
author_sort Fivga, Antzela
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Pyrolysis is widely seen as a promising technology for converting plastic waste into a wax/oil product which can be used as a heavy fuel oil substitute or as raw material by the petrochemical industry. A pyrolysis plant with a capacity of 100 kg/h plastic waste is modelled in the process simulation software Aspen HYSYS. The production costs of the pyrolysis fuel product is estimated at £0.87/kg which is 58% higher than current market prices; therefore, a scaling-up analysis is also carried out to determine the plant capacity for which the pyrolysis process is economically feasible. The fuel production costs of the scaled-up cases considered are approximately 2.2–20.8 times lower than the existing market prices of residual fuel oil, indicating their economic feasibility. For the 1000 kg/h and 10,000 kg/h plant capacity cases the facility needs to operate approximately four years and one year respectively, to recover the capital investment, while the 100,000 kg/h case produces revenue and has a positive NPV within year one. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out revealing that the fuel production rate is the most sensitive parameter for the 100 kg/h plant, as well as the scaled-up plants.
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spelling nottingham-505582019-02-21T04:30:15Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/ Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment Fivga, Antzela Dimitriou, Ioanna Pyrolysis is widely seen as a promising technology for converting plastic waste into a wax/oil product which can be used as a heavy fuel oil substitute or as raw material by the petrochemical industry. A pyrolysis plant with a capacity of 100 kg/h plastic waste is modelled in the process simulation software Aspen HYSYS. The production costs of the pyrolysis fuel product is estimated at £0.87/kg which is 58% higher than current market prices; therefore, a scaling-up analysis is also carried out to determine the plant capacity for which the pyrolysis process is economically feasible. The fuel production costs of the scaled-up cases considered are approximately 2.2–20.8 times lower than the existing market prices of residual fuel oil, indicating their economic feasibility. For the 1000 kg/h and 10,000 kg/h plant capacity cases the facility needs to operate approximately four years and one year respectively, to recover the capital investment, while the 100,000 kg/h case produces revenue and has a positive NPV within year one. A sensitivity analysis is also carried out revealing that the fuel production rate is the most sensitive parameter for the 100 kg/h plant, as well as the scaled-up plants. Elsevier 2018-04-15 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by_nc_nd https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/3/A.%20Fivga%202018%20Authors%20copy.pdf application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/1/A.fivga%20I.Dimitriou%20Energy%202018.pdf Fivga, Antzela and Dimitriou, Ioanna (2018) Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment. Energy, 149 . pp. 865-874. ISSN 1873-6785 Pyrolysis; Aspen HYSYS; Techno-economic analysis; Plastic waste; Process modelling https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.02.094 doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.02.094 doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.02.094
spellingShingle Pyrolysis; Aspen HYSYS; Techno-economic analysis; Plastic waste; Process modelling
Fivga, Antzela
Dimitriou, Ioanna
Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
title Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
title_full Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
title_fullStr Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
title_full_unstemmed Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
title_short Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
title_sort pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute: a techno-economic assessment
topic Pyrolysis; Aspen HYSYS; Techno-economic analysis; Plastic waste; Process modelling
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50558/