Production of steam cracking feedstocks by mild cracking of plastic wastes

In this work the utility of new possible petrochemical feedstocks obtained by plastic waste cracking has been studied. The cracking process of polyethylene (PE), polyethylene–polypropylene (PEPP) and polyethylene-polystyrene (PEPS) has been carried out in a pilot scale tubular reactor. In this process mild reaction parameters has been applied, with the temperature of 530 °C and the residence time of 15 min. The produced hydrocarbon fractions as light- and middle distillates were tested by using a laboratory steam cracking unit.It was concluded that the products of the mild cracking of plastic wastes could be applied as petrochemical feedstocks. Based on the analytical data it was determined that these liquid products contained in significant concentration (25–50 wt.%) of olefin hydrocarbons. Moreover the cracking of polystyrene containing raw material resulted in liquid products with significant amounts of aromatic hydrocarbons too. The steam cracking experiments proved that the products obtained by PE and PEPP cracking resulted in similar or better ethylene and propylene yields than the reference samples, however the aromatic content of PEPS products reduced the ethylene and propylene yields.