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Techno-Economic Analysis of a Pyrolysis Plant to Obtain Synthetic Oil from Plastic Waste
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Researchers simulated a pyrolysis plant processing 60 tonnes per day of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene waste in Peru, finding that the synthetic oil produced has properties comparable to commercial diesel fuel. An economic analysis indicated the plant would be financially viable, providing a potential route to reducing plastic waste while generating energy.
Population growth has brought with it pollution problems caused by plastic waste and the use of fossil fuels. Pyrolysis is a thermal degradation technology that finds a solution to these two major problems by transforming plastic waste into synthetic oil. In this research, a simulation of a pyrolysis plant that processes 60 tons per day of the three most common plastic waste (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) in Peru to obtain synthetic oil is carried out. The product is compared with a commercial WTI oil and a diesel fuel to validate its properties. An economic analysis is carried out to obtain the net present value (NPV) of the project for a horizon of 10 years. From the results of the simulation, a production of 12 thousand barrels per month of synthetic oil was obtained with a liquid product yield of 81.6%, and with 50.6 °API. This result shows that synthetic oil is lighter than a commercial oil but does not have the properties of a diesel fuel to be marketed without first undergoing an additional refining process. Finally, in the economic analysis, a NPV of $18.8 million dollars, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 80% and a project investment recovery period of 1.3 years were obtained.
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