Design, Fabrication and Performance Study of Co-Pyrolysis System for Production of Liquid Fuel from Jatropha Cake with Polystyrene Waste

Abstract

The increasing quantities of plastics and their disposal has been a major public concern. This paper therefore describes a fixed bed co-pyrolysis system designed and fabricated to obtain liquid fuel from a combination of Jatropha seed cake and polystyrene (plastic) waste using appropriate standard technique. The characterization of the feedstock materials (Jatropha cake and polystyrene) were carried out based on proximate and ultimate analysis. The products of the experiment were: liquid fuel, char and gas, while char and gas were considered as by-product. The parameters that were found to influence the product yields significantly includes: feed ratio, temperature and reaction time. The optimum liquid yield obtained from the co-pyrolysis of Jatropha cake with plastic (polystyrene)  waste was 65.0 wt% (that is at the optimum parameters of feed ratio 1:1, temperature 500 ^oC and reaction time of 45 minutes). The  liquid fuel obtained at these optimum conditions were analyzed based on physical and chemical properties, and compared to that of conventional diesel. The results of the liquid fuel obtained and conventional diesel in terms of viscosity, density and pH were 3.8 cP, 3.5 cP, and 830 kg/m³ , 853 kg/m³ , and 1.0, and neutral respectively. Elemental analyses of the liquid fuels from Jatropha cake with polystyrene waste showed that there is high contents of carbon and hydrogen, 87.2 and 8.3 respectively, which indicates that the liquid fuels may support combustion. The calorific value of liquid fuel from copyrolysis of Jatropha cake with polystyrene waste was 42.3 MJ/Kg, and closer to that of conventional diesel 45.5 MJ/Kg. Considering the results obtained from the study, the liquid fuel from Jatropha cake and polystyrene waste can be used as an alternative fuel

Keywords: Co-pyrolysis, Jatropha cake, Polystyrene waste, calorific value