Highly efficient catalytic degradation of low-density polyethylene Using a novel tungstophosphoric acid/kaolin clay composite catalyst

Authors : Saira ATTIQUE, Madeeha BATOOL, Muhammad İrfan JALEES, Khurram SHEHZAD, Umar FAROOQ, Zakir KHAN, Fawad ASHRAF, Asma Tufail SHAH

Pages : 684-693

View : 21 | Download : 7

Publication Date : 0000-00-00

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In order to take advantage of the Bronsted acidity of tungstophosphoric acid insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(TPA); and Lewis acidity of kaolin, TPA-loaded kaolin catalysts with varying percentages of TPA insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(10-50 wt.-%); were prepared by wet impregnation method. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, X-ray diffractometer, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analyzer, and scanning electron microscope characterizations were performed to confirm the successful loading of TPA on kaolin. Catalytic cracking of low-density polyethylene insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(LDPE);, by employing TPA-loaded kaolin as the catalyst, produced a higher percentage of fuel oil insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons); with a negligible amount of semisolid wax insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(1.0 wt.-%);. The wax amount was significantly lower compared to the thermal cracking, which produced $\sim $22 wt.-% solid black residue. Moreover, GC-MS analysis of oil showed that thermal cracking produced mainly higher hydrocarbons insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(C$_{22});$ as compared to the catalytic cracking where larger fraction of lower hydrocarbons were obtained. We purpose that the higher performance of prepared catalysts was due to the presence of both Bronsted and Lewis acid sites, which increase their catalytic efficiency and degraded LDPE at the relatively lower temperatures. These results suggest that prepared materials were effective catalysts with low cost and easily scalable production method, suitable for large-scale high performance catalytic cracking of polymers.
Keywords : Catalytic cracking, tungstophosphoric acid, polyethylene, kaolin