A review on feasibility and techno-economic analysis of hydrocarbon liquid fuels production via catalytic pyrolysis of waste plastic materials

The single-use waste plastics is one of the major concerns globally to society as well as to the scientific community. It is even more so at the present-day due to the rapid production of plastic and polymeric materials to meet the societal demand. The consumers’ demand and dependency on plastic is huge due to its versatility, low production cost, light weight and numerous applications of it. With increasing the demand, waste plastic generation is also high that leads to creation of environmental and health problems like vomiting, anemia, headache, kidney, liver damage, cancer, shortened lifespan and chronic damage to nervous system. Therefore, new and modern techniques such as pyrolysis has been developed to reduce the environmental pollution and cutting of carbon tracers of plastic products by reducing the emissions of oxides of carbon like monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) as compared to other technologies. This review paper mainly focused on the plastic waste generation scenario in India and minimization technique to produce fuels. Additionally, other new technologies to handle waste plastic along with energy generation (in the form of oil and gas production) with the specific process parameters (reaction time, reactor type, catalyst type and reaction temperature) to obtain the maximum yield are also discussed. The technoeconomic analysis and energy participation of waste plastic oil has also been highlighted to enhance the utilization of pyrolysis products and their futuristic application as an automotive fuel. An attempt was also made to analyze the emissions reduction as well as promotion of circular economy.