Abstract
The rapid accumulation of plastic waste has emerged as an environmental crisis due to its escalating volume and inefficient post-processing. The conventional disposal and management methods like landfills and mechanical separation with recycling are not environmentally and economically sustainable due to the varying composition of the plastic waste mixture. Pyrolysis presents itself as a promising technology to thermally valorize plastic of various forms and compositions, reducing the waste’s mass and volume significantly. Previous studies have looked into the investigation of the pyrolysis of single plastic and reported successful conversion into higher-value products, but few have researched plastic waste mixtures. In this study, a plastic mixture of up to six types of different components (Low-Density Polyethylene, High-Density Polyethylene, Polyethylene terephthalate, Polystyrene, Polypropylene, and Polyvinyl Chloride), with reference to the waste plastic composition in Malaysia was experimented with through a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The finding depicted that the thermal decomposition of the plastic mixture starts from 200-400 °C and ends around 490-540 °C. The residual solid remaining after pyrolysis is measured to be <5 %, indicating the successful decomposition of the plastic waste mixture. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor obtained through the Coats-Redfern (CR) were around 196.45 kJ/mol and 1.02 x 1017 min-1. Negative synergism was observed between the interaction of six plastics. This study demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of plastic waste mixture decomposition through pyrolysis.
