E. Valančienė “The conversion of polyolefins using thermocatalytic and biochemical methods” doctoral thesis defence

Author, Institution: Eglė Valančienė, Kaunas University of Technology

Science area, field of science: Technological Sciences, Chemical Engineering, 05T

Scientific supervisors:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Linas Miknius (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Chemical Engineering – 05T), 2015-2018
Prof. Dr. Vytas Martynaitis (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Chemical Engineering – 05T), 2014-2015

Dissertation Defence Board of Chemical Engineering Science Field:
Prof. Dr. Vytautas Mickevičius (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Science, Chemical Engineering – 05T) – Chairman;
Prof. Dr. Gintaras Buika (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Science, Chemical Engineering – 05T);
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rima Klimavičiūtė (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Science, Chemical Engineering – 05T);
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jolanta Rousseau (University of Artois, France, Technological Sciences, Energetics and Chemical Engineering – 05T);
Dr. Andrius Tamošiūnas (Lithuanian Energy Institute, Technological Sciences, Energetics and Thermal Engineering – 06T).

The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio St. 20, Kaunas).

Annotation:
Every year more than 6300 million t of plastic waste are produced, with 80% of it collected in landfills or discarded in the natural environment. Polyolefins are the major nonbiodegradable waste. They can be used for fuel production in thermolysis process. The produced fuel has a high calorific value. The catalytic thermolysis allows to perform the degradation reactions in the lower temperature, to obtain the higher yields of target products for the better control of quantitative and qualitative composition and its contamination of the final product. The composition of the liquid products also depends on the raw material, the reactor used and the process conditions. The most appropriate process conditions should be experimentally determined for each reactor and raw material for obtaining the best yields of target products.
In this work the properties and chemical composition of solid and liquid (non)catalytic thermolysis products of polyolefin waste were analyzed. The optimal composition of plastics and catalyst for producing diesel and gasoline components with better yields was determined. The influence of the catalyst concentration to the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of thermolysis reaction was determined. The liquid products properties can be changed by removing the lower boiling point compounds. The influence of anthropogenic treatment of polyolefin films to the yields of thermolysis products was investigated.