Characteristics of copyrolysis polyethylene with carbon dioxide in a horizontal DC plasma jet reactor

摘要

Characteristics of copyrolysis polyethylene (PE) with greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) was investigated in a horizontal DC plasma jet reactor, for the aim to adjust the H2/CO molar ratio in the gaseous products in a wide range to further synthesize liquid fuel. For comparison, pyrolysis PE alone as well as pyrolysis CO2 alone was also studied in light of CO yield. Results showed that: in case of plasma pyrolysis PE alone, product streams included combustible gas and solid carbon, and the main components of the gaseous products consisted of a large amount of H2 achieved at 21.3 vol % and a small amount of low molecular hydrocarbon, CO was not determined in the gaseous products thanks to PE being hydrocarbon polymer. In terms of H2 yield performance, the horizontal plasma jet reactor under development was superior to the downward mode. In case of plasma pryolysis CO2 alone, just a small amount of CO obtained from the decomposing reaction of CO2, and the CO concentration in the gaseous products was less than 5%. In case of plasma copyrolysis PE with CO2, a wide range of H2/CO molar ratio in the gaseous products can be obtained with varying the inlet CO2 concentration, and the product of CO obtained mainly from the gasified reaction of carbon with CO2, in which carbon generated from plasma pyrolysis PE. In this paper, the H2/CO molar ratio was adjustable in the range of 1 to 12 from plasma copyrolysis PE with CO2. Thus, a significant synergy effect can be observed from copyrolysis PE with CO2 in terms of the CO yields.