Degradation of waste High-density polyethylene into fuel oil using basic catalyst

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) has been degraded thermally and catalytically using MgCO3 at 450 °C into liquid fraction in a batch reactor. Different conditions like temperature, time and catalyst ratio were optimized for the maximum conversion of HDPE into liquid fraction. Catalytic degradation yielded 92% liquid fraction whereas 90% wax was obtained with thermal degradation. The composition of the liquid fraction was characterized by physicochemical properties of petroleum fuel tests. The catalytic liquid fraction consisted of high concentration of C8–C9, C13–C14 and C17–C18 hydrocarbons. The distillation data showed that ∼50% of the fraction has boiling point in the range of gasoline and ∼50% in the range of diesel oil.