A pyrolysis study for the thermal and kinetic characteristics of an agricultural waste with two different plastic wastes

Abstract

In this study, thermochemical conversion of plastic wastes (PET and PVC) together with an agricultural waste (hazelnut shell) was investigated. In order to determine the thermal and kinetic behaviours, pyrolysis experiments were carried out from room temperature to 800 °C, with a heating rate of 10 °C min^-1 in the presence of a N₂ atmosphere in a thermogravimetric analyzer. With the obtained thermogravimetric data, an appropriate temperature was specified for the pyrolysis of biomass–plastic wastes in a fixed-bed reactor. At the second step, pyrolysis experiments were carried out at the same conditions with the thermogravimetric analyzer, except the final temperature which was up to 500 °C in this case. After pyrolysis experiments, pyrolysis yields were calculated and characterization studies for bio-oil were investigated. Experimental results showed that co-pyrolysis has an important role in the determination of the pyrolysis mechanism and the process conditions while designing/implementing a thermochemical conversion method where biomass–plastic materials were preferred as raw materials.