TITLE:
Techno-Economic Evaluation of Thermal and Catalytic Pyrolysis Plants for the Conversion of Heterogeneous Waste Plastics to Liquid Fuels in Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Emmanuel Okon Osung, Sunday Boladale Alabi
KEYWORDS:
Waste Plastics, Heterogeneous, Liquid Fuels, Thermal Pyrolysis, Catalytic Pyrolysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.10 No.7,
July
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: Techno-economic potentials of thermal and catalytic
pyrolysis plants for the conversion of waste plastics to liquid fuels have been
widely studied, but it is not obvious which of the two plants is more
profitable, as the existing studies used different assumptions and cost bases in their
analyses, thereby making it difficult to compare the economic potentials of the
two plants. In this study, industrial-scale thermal and catalytic waste
plastics pyrolysis plants were designed and economically analyzed using ASPEN PLUS. Amorphous silica-alumina was
considered the optimum catalyst, with 3:1 feed to catalyst ratio. Based on 20,000 tons/year of feed and 20% interest
rate, the catalytic plant, having a net present value (NPV) of ?2208 million, was found to be economically less attractive than the thermal plant,
having the NPV of ?2426.4 million. On the contrary, sensitivity
analyses of the two plants at a feed rate of 50,000 tons/year gave rise to a slightly higher NPV for the catalytic plant (?9861 million) than the thermal plant having NPV of ?9838 million, thereby making the former more economically
attractive for processing large amounts of waste plastics into liquid fuels.
Consequently, as the catalytic plant showed a better scale economy and would produce higher
quality liquid fuels than the thermal plant, it is recommended for
commercialization in Nigeria.