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

Attique, S., Batool, M., Jalees, M. I., Shehzad, K., Farooq, U., Khan, Z., Ashraf, F. and Shah, A. T. (2018) Highly efficient catalytic degradation of low-density polyethylene using a novel tungstophosphoric acid/kaolin clay composite catalyst. Turkish Journal of Chemistry, 42(3), pp. 684-693. (doi: 10.3906/kim-1612-21)

Abstract

In order to take advantage of Bronsted acidity of tungstophosphoric acid(TPA) and Lewis acidity of kaolin, TPA loaded kaolin catalysts with varying percentages of TPA (10-50wt%) have been prepared by wet impregnation method. Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectrometer, X-ray diffractometer, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analyzer, and Scanning Electron Microscope characterizations were performed to confirm the successful loading of TPA onKaolin. Catalytic cracking of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), by employing our TPA loaded Kaolin as the catalyst, produced a higher percentage of fuel oil (liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons) with negligible amount of semisolid wax (1.0 wt.%), significantly lower compared to the thermal cracking which produced ~22wt.% solid black residue. Moreover, GCMS analysis of oil showed that thermal cracking produces mainly higher hydrocarbons(C22) as compared to the catalytic cracking where larger fraction oflowerhydrocarbons were obtained. We purpose that the higher performance of our catalysts was due to the presence of both Bronsted and Lewis acid sites, which increase their catalytic efficiency and degraded the LDPE at the relatively lower temperatures. Our results suggest that prepared materials were effectivecatalysts with low cost and easily scalable production method; suitable for large-scale highperformance catalytic cracking of LDPE based materials.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors are grateful to the International Foundation of Science (IFS) for fully funding this project for performing the experiments by grant (F/5375-1). The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, are thanked for developmental grants.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Khan, Dr Zakir
• Authors: Attique, S., Batool, M., Jalees, M. I., Shehzad, K., Farooq, U., Khan, Z., Ashraf, F., and Shah, A. T.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Turkish Journal of Chemistry
• Publisher: TÜBİTAK
• ISSN: 1300-0527
• ISSN (Online): 1303-6130
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 TÜBİTAK
• First Published: First published in Turkish Journal of Chemistry 42(3): 684-693
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy