Análisis exergético de pirólisis de residuos plásticos de polipropileno en un reactor batch

Abstract

The energetic analysis of the pyrolysis of polypropylene (PP) plastic waste in a batch presents the need for a more reliable method of calculating the energetic efficiencies between the energy consumption used in the production of the pyrolyzed liquid and the amount of energy that could use as fuel. Therefore, the present research aims to carry out the exergy balance of the inlet and outflow currents, the latter being the liquid, solid, and gaseous fractions of PP pyrolysis. The methodology used has a quantitative approach, and the level of the work is explanatory since it seeks to describe what happens during the pyrolysis process of the waste and how much energy the fractions obtained from such waste can contribute to the research design. It works with conditions of -0.5 MPa, 400 ºC, and a nitrogen atmosphere inside the reactor. A cooling system with water that circulated at 10 C. In addition to the data on the nominal power of the motors of the equipment involved in the process, data will help in the calculations; the design is transversal of experimental type, experimenting with 1 kg of PP waste of approximately 2 cm in diameter from recyclers in Riobamba city. Through this methodology, it was possible to determine that the total input energy is 90.05 MJ, the output energy is 36.74 MJ, and the performance value is 27.41% concerning the input and output energies, with confidence intervals obtained for each fraction. With the data accepted, it concluded that it is a viable alternative fuel source in the fight against plastic.