Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, Vol.36, No.8, 991-995, 2003
Hydrothermal refining of fuel oil derived from municipal waste plastics in a continuous packed-bed reactor
The hydrothermal dechlorination and denitrogenation of fuel oil derived from municipal waste plastics (kerosene fraction; Cl content = 62 ppm, N content = 1150 ppm) was investigated under subcritical liquid-phase conditions using a small SUS316 stainless steel continuous, packed-bed reactor. Although these two reactions took place in pure water, they proceeded much more readily in aqueous solutions of NaOH. For example, the nitrogen content in the oil decreased to 73 ppm upon processing with 0.10 mol/L NaOH for 5.50 min at 300degreesC and at the reactant weight feed ratio of unity. The chlorine content in the oil decreased to 2 ppm as a result of the alkaline hydrothermal processing. Both rates of these two reactions could well be described in terms of a homogeneous first-order reaction kinetics with a tentative equilibrium heteroatom content under the hydrothermal processing conditions used.