Plastic To Fuel Conversion System Using Renewable Energy Assisted Pyrolysis

Abstract

In the current world, huge amounts of plastic are generated every year. Improper management of plastics like burning it in the open air creates hazardous problems in the environment. Though there has been numerous attempts for repossession of plastics using the present technological advancement, it predominantly emits greenhouse gases and the usage of power for the entire recycling process is sky-high. Pyrolysis technique is another nature friendly attempt to convert plastic to inflammable gas. But this process is an energy intensive mechanism which requires anaerobic decomposition of plastic in presence of catalyst and at very high temperature. To minimise energy intensive nature of the process, renewable technologies are taken in to provide the extreme temperature levels to enable pyrolysis. Fractional Open Circuit Voltage based maximum power point tracking mechanism is adopted in order to convert incident solar energy on solar panels to electric power, and then transforming to heat using appropriate heating element and power conversion system. Proposed method is simulated and implemented using 1kW SPV system and results indicate a considerable reduction in non-renewable energy usage for plastic to fuel conversion as compared with conventional methods.