Synthesis of Modified River Clay Catalyst for Valuable BTE Production via Catalytic Pyrolysis of Hazardous Plastic Waste

Abstract

In the present study, silica-alumina rich river clay calcined at different temperatures are used as low cost natural green catalyst for the production of valuable aromatics benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene (BTE) via multiphase/Mp-type catalytic pyrolysis of waste expanded polystyrene (WEPS). The calcined river clay catalysts are designated as RHC-600, RHC-700, RHC-800 and RHC-900 after calcination at the temperature of 600 °C, 700 °C, 800 °C, and 900 °C, respectively. Whereas, the natural river harvested clay is designated as RHC. The RHC-800 catalyst is found to be the best catalyst for the WEPS pyrolysis due to its highest surface area of 18.83 m2/g and high silica to alumina (Si/Al) ratio of 2.23 among all other river harvested clay catalysts. The styrene content get reduced from 84.74 wt.% to 65.30 wt.% and BTE content increased from 11.38 wt.% to 23.51 wt.% when the process is switched over from thermal to Mp-type catalytic pyrolysis using RHC-800 catalyst. The promising results of RHC-800 indicate that it can be an alternative to commercial catalyst for pyrolysis applications.