CATALYTIC PYROLYSIS OF HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE (HDPE) USING SULFATE MODIFIED ZIRCONIUM OXIDE CATALYST

摘要

The worlds’ plastic consumption is increasing considerably, from around 2 to 245 million tons in the last fifty years. That is about 20 million times increase in the amount of plastic used today. Thus, the plastic waste generated increased 20 times more than 50 years ago. This led to the sharp increase in the amount of plastic wastes generated globally and thereby creating huge environmental problems. United states of America and EU countries are largest producer of plastic wastes. The amount of post consumer plastic generated was about 20 and 15 million tons for US and EU, respectively, but only 8% is recycled5. Land filling and incineration are the most commonly methods used for treating the waste, but they are very expensive. These methods do not conform to the current international policy and beside do not add any value to the waste. In addition, of all the solid wastes, plastic waste is the most difficult to degrade. Therefore, there is the need for a better and sustainable method to deal with the waste.