Integrated continuous conversion and separation methods for upcycling mixed plastic waste to clean gasoline and diesel fuels and other products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12516248-B2
Application number	US-202118004647-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2021
Priority date	Jul 9, 2020
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

A method of producing useful fuel fluids from solid plastic waste, including loading solid plastic waste matter into a reaction chamber to define a load, subjecting the load to HTP to extract hydrocarbon mixtures, filtering the hydrocarbon mixtures to extract solid matter, and separating the hydrocarbon mixtures into a light fraction (C 1 to C 25 ) and a heavy fraction (C 26 to C 31 ). The heavy fraction is directed to a first container and the light fraction is directed to a second container. The light fraction is separated into diesel (C 8 -C 25 ), gasoline (C 4 -C 12 ), and vapor (C 1 -C 5 ), and the diesel is directed to a third container, the gasoline is directed to a fourth container, and the vapor is directed to a fifth container. The hydrocarbon mixtures have a carbon number distribution between C 1 and C 31 . The pressure in the reaction chamber is typically between 0.1 and 10 MPa and the temperature in the reaction chamber is between 350 and 500 degrees Celsius. The plastic waste is selected from the group consisting of PS, PE, PP, and mixtures thereof.

First claim

We claim:

1 . An integrated thermal conversion and separation system comprising:
a reactor vessel having an inlet and an outlet; a filter for preventing solids from passing through the outlet; a first condenser connected in fluidic communication with the reactor vessel for condensing oil; a first separation vessel connected in fluidic communication with the first condenser for separating the oil into at least a gasoline fraction and a diesel fraction; a second condenser connected in fluidic communication with the first separation vessel for receiving and further condensing the diesel fraction into diesel oil; a third condenser connected in fluidic communication with the first separation vessel for receiving and further condensing the gasoline fraction; a second separation vessel connected in fluidic communication with the third condenser for receiving condensed gasoline fraction and separating the gasoline fraction into vapor and gasoline; a vapor collection vessel connected in fluidic communication with the second separation vessel; a gasoline separation tank connected in fluidic communication with the second separation vessel for collecting gasoline; a chilled water source operationally connected to the respective condensers; a water source operationally connected to the reactor vessel; and a furnace connected in thermal communication with the reactor vessel.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the respective separation units are distillation columns.

3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the respective separation units are multi-stage condensers.

4 . The system of claim 1 and further comprising:
a shredder for receiving polyolefin and polystyrene waste and yielding shredded polyolefin/polystyrene waste;
a feed tank operationally connected to the shredder and to the water source for receiving and combining water and shredded polyolefin/polystyrene waste to yield feed;
a screw pump operationally connected to the feed tank for receiving, mixing, and pumping feed into the inlet; and
a heater connected in thermal communication with the screw pump.

5 . The system of claim 1 and further comprising:
a solid residue port formed in the reactor vessel for extracting solid residue therefrom.

6 . The system of claim 1 and further comprising a water pump operationally connected to the water source; a chilled water pump operationally connected to the chilled water source; an electronic controller operationally connected to the screw pump, the water pump, and the chilled water pump; and a plurality of pressure and temperature sensors connected in electric communication with the electronic controller; wherein a respective temperature sensor and a respective pressure sensor is operationally connected to each respective condenser and to each respective separation vessel.

7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the heater and the furnace are fueled by vapors routed from the vapor collection vessel.

8 . A method of producing useful fuel fluids from solid plastic waste, comprising:
a) loading solid plastic waste matter into a reaction chamber to define a load; b) subjecting the load to HTP to extract hydrocarbon mixtures; c) filtering the hydrocarbon mixtures to extract solid matter; d) separating the hydrocarbon mixtures into a light fraction (C 1 to C 25 ) and a heavy fraction (C 26 to C 31 ); e) directing the heavy fraction to a first container and the light fraction to a second container; f) separating the light fraction into diesel (C 8 -C 25 ), gasoline (C 4 -C 12 ), and vapor (C 1 -C 5 ); g) directing the diesel to a third container; h) directing the gasoline to a fourth container; i) directing the vapor to a fifth container; wherein the hydrocarbon mixtures have a carbon number distribution between C 1 and C 31 ; wherein the pressure in the reaction chamber is between 0.1 and 23 MPa; wherein the plastic waste is selected from the group consisting of PS, PE, PP, and mixtures thereof, wherein the temperature in the reaction chamber is between 200 and 600 degrees Celsius.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the load has a water to plastic weight ratio no more than 2:1; and wherein the reaction time is less than 6 hours.

10 . The method of claim 8 wherein steps d) and f) are accomplished by distillation.

11 . The method of claim 8 wherein steps d) and f) are accomplished by condensation.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein gasoline (C 8 ) and naphtha are separated from diesel (C 11-12 ) at 75° C.-155° C.; wherein jet-fuel B (C 9-11 ) is separated from jet-fuel A (C 10-12 ) at 75° C.-175° C.; and wherein Jet-fuel A is separated from lubricating oil at 100° C.-300° C.

13 . The method of claim 8 and further comprising:
j) using the vapor to power the reactor.

14 . The method of claim 8 wherein the second container is a distillation column.

15 . The method of claim 8 wherein the second container is a series of condensers connected in fluidic communication.

Assignees

• Purdue Research Foundation

Inventors

• Wang Nien-Hwa Linda
• Jin Kai
• Gentilcore Clayton
• Xiao Yang

Classifications

• C10G2400/10

  Lubricating oil · CPC title

• C10G2400/08

  Jet fuel · CPC title

• C10G2400/04

  Diesel oil · CPC title

• C10G2400/02

  Gasoline · CPC title

• C10G2300/4012

  Pressure · CPC title