ISSN: 1304-7191 | E-ISSN: 1304-7205
In-sito co-pyrolysis of tea waste and polypropylene using microwave-assisted pyrolysis: products analysis, energy consumption, and synergy effect
1Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India
2Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq
3Applied Science Department, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq
Sigma J Eng Nat Sci - DOI: 10.14744/sigma.2025.00063

Abstract

This study focuses on the microwave-assisted co-pyrolysis method, which recycles polypropylene (PP) and tea residues (TW). When utilising a KOH catalyst for co-pyrolyzing (PP: TW), the gaseous product yield dropped to 33.6%, but the oil and char yields rose to 34.8% and 31.6%, respectively. The maximum gas yield achieved by microwave co-pyrolysis without a KOH catalyst was 41.67 weight percent. In MACP of (PP: TW), 459 kJ of energy was consumed. Compared to co-pyrolysis without a catalyst, which had a synergistic impact on oil yield (-17.0) and char yield (-5.02), co-pyrolysis with a KOH catalyst has a synergistic effect that improves oil yield. While the maximal pyrolysis index (PI) without a catalyst is 88.12, it drops to 86.58 with the KOH catalyst. It shows how the KOH catalyst contributed to the pyrolysis process during the co-pyrolysis of polypropylene and tea waste. Uncatalyzed co-pyrolysis has more internal pore area. Finally, PP: TW char (123-196 m2 /g) is created. The gasses created during co-pyrolysis would have affected the char "pore area." Aromatic hydrocarbon selectivity was 93.6 %. CO-pyrolysis oil was 27% cycloalkanes and alkenes. In co-pyrolysis, cyclic aliphatic molecules and benzene derivatives generated dispersion of carbon. Most compounds were C8 (31.5%), C15-C24 (22.4%), and C9 (14.4%).