Enhancing pyrolysis oil from landfill waste plastic with industrial waste catalyst

Kittipob  Aurreethum; Viboon  Sricharoenchaikul; Prangtip Rittichote  Kaewpengkrow; Maneerat  Khemkhao

doi:10.6180/jase.202603_29(4).0023

Enhancing pyrolysis oil from landfill waste plastic with industrial waste catalyst

Chemical Engineering Environmental Engineering

Kittipob Aurreethum¹, Viboon Sricharoenchaikul^2,3, Prangtip Rittichote Kaewpengkrow⁴This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and Maneerat Khemkhao¹This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

¹Rattanakosin College for Sustainable Energy and Environment, Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

²Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

³Energy Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

⁴Department of Chemistry, School of Science, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand

Received: December 22, 2024
Accepted: June 26, 2025
Publication Date: August 21, 2025

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202603_29(4).0023

This study investigates the production of catalytic pyrolysis oil from 10-year-old landfilled plastic waste in Nonthaburi Province. The study performs pyrolysis of plastic waste using calcined fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and bottom ash(BA)catalysts, focusing on their potential as alternative fuels. A fixed bed reactor operates at different temperatures 350- 500^◦C, with optimal results achieved at 450^◦C. The maximum oil yield was achieved at 500^◦C (47.00 %wt.) and at 450^◦C with calcined FCC (42.64 %wt.). The maximum heating value reached 45.77 MJ/kg using the BA catalyst. Chemical composition analysis via FT-IR and GC-MS revealed hydrocarbons, primarily alkenes and alkanes. The presence of aromatics and hydrocarbons (C₅ − C₁₁ and C₁₂ − C₂₀) increased with catalyst use, approaching petroleum fuel properties. The most prevalent composition consisted of hydrocarbons in the C₅− C₂₀ range, with a peak area of 84.65 % obtained from pyrolysis at 450^◦C using the calcined FCC catalyst. Furthermore, the gas products are analyzed using a gas analyzer. High levels of H₂ and low levels of CO₂ and SO₂ emissions indicate that the process can produce an alternative fuel while generating fewer greenhouse gases. This research is consistent with the circular economy’s concepts, promoting sustainability and utilized resource efficiency.

Keywords: Pyrolysis, Plastic waste, Waste to energy, FCC catalyst, Landfill

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