Feedstock recycling of plastic wastes and scrap rubber via thermal cracking

The experimental results of an investigation of the thermal degradation of waste polyolefins and scrap rubber are presented in this paper. Thermal decomposition of wastes was performed in a new type of a tubular reactor with molten metal. Three products, i.e., one gaseous (below 14 wt %), one liquid (over 41 wt %) and one solid residue, were obtained during the degradation of waste rubber, and two products were formed from the conversion of polyolefins: one gaseous (8-16 wt % of the input) and one liquid (84 92 wt %) stream. The light, "gasoline" fraction of the liquid hydrocarbon mixture (C-4-C-10) comprised over 50% of the liquid product for polyolefins and over 90 wt % for rubber degradation.