Pravin Kannan
The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Title: Feedstock for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis from Waste Plastics – A technical evaluation
Biography
Biography: Pravin Kannan
Abstract
Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process was originally developed for producing synthetic petroleum substitute from coal and liquid fuels. Carbonaceous materials, like plastics can be considered a potential feedstock resource for synthetic fuel production. The molar ratio of H2:CO should be closer to 2 in the FT feedstock in order to achieve maximum yield of product alkanes. The objective of this work is to investigate conversion of waste plastics into synthesis gas with composition and properties suitable for Fischer Tropsch applications. The product gas composition depends on a variety of factors including waste composition, gasification temperature, and composition of the gasification medium (CO2 and steam blends). The goal is to optimize these parameters such that the product gas meets the above mentioned specifications for FT synthesis. A thermodynamic model developed earlier in Aspen Plus for steam gasification of LDPE [] was extended to include mixture of different plastics (oxygenated and non-oxygenated) and gasifying medium blends. The gasifier was modeled as a Gibbs free reactor and the simulation was performed at isothermal conditions of 700, 900 and 1100 ËšC. Preliminary results analyzed at carbon boundary point indicate favorable process conditions for producing syngas and complete carbon conversion. A sensitivity analysis on the process parameters would be also presented and discussed.