Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Climate Action (SDG 13)
Conversion of waste HDPE to fuel using ZSM-5 catalyst derived from kaolin clay and rice husk Johannes Awudza, Charlotte Atakimah * Department of Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. E-mail: charlatakimah@gmail.com Catalytic pyrolysis stands out as a crucial technology facilitating the transformation of waste plastics into fuel. In this study, waste high density polyethylene was converted into gasoline fuel using ZSM-5 catalyst derived from kaolin clay and silica from rice husk. Different proportions of purified kaolin clay and silica from rice husk were combined to produce ZSM-5 samples with Si/Al molar ratios of 18.35, 27.86 and 37.15. Key parameters such as crystallization temperature, aging conditions, and amount of structure directing agent were kept constant. The synthesized ZSM-5 samples were subjected to characterization techniques such as FTIR, TGA, SEM, and XRD with their spectra compared to that of commercial ZSM-5. ZCS-2 with a Si/Al molar ratio of 27.86, yielded pure phase ZSM-5, exhibiting spectra closely resembling those of commercial ZSM-5. ZCS-2 was split into two variants, Na-ZCS-2 and HZCS-2 which were employed in the pyrolysis experiments to assess their respective impacts on liquid fuel yield and process duration. HZCS-2 exhibited the highest liquid fuel yield, reaching 65% with a retention time of 1 hour, while Na-ZCS-2 yielded 54.43% at a slightly longer retention time of 1.25 hours. This approach aligns with green chemistry as it employs non-toxic precursors and water as solvent. Key words: Pyrolysis, catalysts, fuel, plastics, silica References 1. Tulashie, S. K., Dodoo, D., Mensah, S., Atisey, S., Odai, R., Adukpoh, K. E., & Boadu, E. K. (2022). Recycling of plastic wastes into alternative fuels towards a circular economy in Ghana. Cleaner Chemical Engineering, 4(July), 100064. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.clce.2022.100064 2. Bachmann, M., Zibunas, C., Hartmann, J., Tulus, V., Suh, S., Guillén-gosálbez, G., & Bardow, A. (2023). Towards circular plastics within planetary boundaries. 6(May). 3. Yang, R. X., Jan, K., Chen, C. T., Chen, W. T., & Wu, K. C. W. (2022). Thermochemical Conversion of Plastic Waste into Fuels, Chemicals, and Value-Added Materials: A Critical Review and Outlooks. ChemSusChem, 15(11). https://doi.org/10.1002/ cssc.202200171 4. Hartati, H., Qurrota, A., Saputri, N. H., Mardho, D. Z., Bintang, P., Firda, D., Hartono, H., Bahruji, H., Nugraha, R. E., Sholeha, N. A., & Prasetyoko, D. (2023). Aluminosilicates Catalysts Synthesis from Low-Grade Indonesian Kaolin for the Acetalization Reaction. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13010122 5. Todkar, B. S., Deorukhkar, O. A., & Deshmukh, S. M. (2016). Extraction of Silica from Rice Husk. 12(3), 69–74. DOI:10.3390/ catal13010122 6. Liu, Q., Fang, Y., Miao, C., Liao, Z., & Lu, J. (2023). Microporous and Mesoporous Materials Preparation of ZSM-5 molecular sieve modified by kaolin and its CO2 adsorption performance investigation. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 360(June), 112678. 7. Liu, Y., Luo, Q., Lu, H., & Wang, Z. (2019). The influencing factors of hydrothermal synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite and its adsorption of phenol, quinoline and indole. Materials Research Express, 6(11). https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/ab4e45.
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