Conversion of Waste Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Polymer into Activated Carbon and Its Feasibility to Produce Green Fuel

In this study, a novel idea was proposed to convert the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste drinking-water bottles into activated carbon (AC) to use for waste cooking oil (WCO) and palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) feasibility to convert into esters. The acidic and basic char were prepared by using the waste PET bottles. The physiochemical properties were determined by employing various analytical techniques, such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and temperature-programmed desorption – ammonia/carbon dioxide (TPD-NH3/CO2). The prepared PET H3PO4 and PET KOH showed the higher surface area, thus illustrating that the surface of both materials has enough space for impregnation of foreign precursors. The TPD-NH3 and TPD-CO2 results depicted that PET H3PO4 is found to have higher acidity, i.e., 18.17 mmolg−1, due to the attachment of phosponyl groups to it during pretreatment, whereas, in the case of PET KOH, the basicity increases to 13.49 mmolg−1. The conversion results show that prepared materials can be used as a support for an acidic and basic catalyst for the conversion of WCO and PFAD into green fuel.

[1]  U. Rashid,et al.  Exploring untapped effect of process conditions on biochar characteristics and applications , 2020, Environmental Technology & Innovation.

[2]  Xiaona Lin,et al.  Catalytic pyrolysis of wood-plastic composite waste over activated carbon catalyst for aromatics production: Effect of preparation process of activated carbon , 2020 .

[3]  S. Vakalis,et al.  Effect of process conditions on the surface properties of biomass chars produced by means of pyrolysis and CO2 gasification , 2020, Energy & Environment.

[4]  Sunil Kumar,et al.  Efficient removal of arsenic using plastic waste char: Prevailing mechanism and sorption performance , 2020 .

[5]  L. Liu,et al.  Preparation of KOH and H3PO4 Modified Biochar and Its Application in Methylene Blue Removal from Aqueous Solution , 2019, Processes.

[6]  H. Lei,et al.  Synthesis and characterization of sulfonated activated carbon as a catalyst for bio-jet fuel production from biomass and waste plastics. , 2019, Bioresource technology.

[7]  Cristóvão Ramiro Belo,et al.  Pesticides abatement using activated carbon produced from a mixture of synthetic polymers by chemical activation with KOH and K2CO3 , 2019 .

[8]  Shuo Huang,et al.  Preparing polyester/carbon multifunctional fabrics by phosphoric acid carbonization , 2019, Cellulose.

[9]  Y. Taufiq-Yap,et al.  Appraisal of Sulphonation Processes to Synthesize Palm Waste Biochar Catalysts for the Esterification of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate , 2019, Catalysts.

[10]  A. Phan,et al.  Benzoic acid recovery via waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) catalytic pyrolysis using sulphated zirconia catalyst , 2018, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis.

[11]  H. Sardón,et al.  Plastics recycling with a difference , 2018, Science.

[12]  Marco Baratieri,et al.  Synthesis of char-based acidic catalyst for methanolysis of waste cooking oil: An insight into a possible valorization pathway for the solid by-product of gasification , 2018 .

[13]  H. Tan,et al.  Synergistic effects during co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic: Gas, tar, soot, char products and thermogravimetric study , 2017, Journal of the Energy Institute.

[14]  P. Mourão,et al.  Synthetic polymers blend used in the production of high activated carbon for pesticides removals from liquid phase , 2017, Environmental technology.

[15]  Mohammad Rehan,et al.  Catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste: A review , 2016 .

[16]  F. Galgani,et al.  The degradation potential of PET bottles in the marine environment: An ATR-FTIR based approach , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[17]  K. Malins,et al.  Synthesis of activated carbon based heterogenous acid catalyst for biodiesel preparation , 2015 .

[18]  M. Soleimani,et al.  Preparation and evaluation of activated carbons obtained by physical activation of polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) wastes , 2012 .

[19]  M. Pérez-Mendoza,et al.  The influence of the process conditions on the characteristics of activated carbons obtained from PET de-polymerisation , 2010 .

[20]  P. Carrott,et al.  Designing Activated Carbons from Natural and Synthetic Raw Materials for Pollutants Adsorption , 2010 .

[21]  Marco J. Castaldi,et al.  Possible Utilization Pathways of Char from Biomass Thermochemical Conversion: Char as a Catalytic Filtering Medium for Tar Cracking , 2016 .