(385e) Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Municipal Plastic Waste Incineration, Gasification, and Pyrolysis Oil Production By Chemical Process Simulation

With the emergence of the transition to a circular economy to achieve net-zero emissions, it is important to determine how to dispose of Municipal plastic Waste (MPW). There are two methods for recycling MPW: gasification and production of pyrolysis oil. In the gasification process, syngas is produced through three steps: pretreatment, decomposition, and gasification. Also, MPW can be converted to liquid hydrocarbon fuel through pyrolysis consisting of four steps: pretreatment, pyrolysis, hydrogen production from pyrolysis gas, and hydrodeoxygenation using pyrolysis oil. These processes convert waste into valuable resources, aligning with the goals of a circular economy through chemical recycling. Most of existing research has focused on specific waste management technologies. Therefore, this study conducted simulations of incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis oil production using Aspen Plus software to process 1000 tonnes of MPW daily. For techno-economic analysis, profits were calculated by considering disposal costs and revenue from final products based on the Aspen Plus model. Additionally, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to quantify greenhouse gas emissions using the GREET model. The gasification process has the higher efficiency of 82.1% compared to the pyrolysis oil production process at 60.7%, resulting in profits of $782.36 and $338.13 per tonne of disposed MPW, respectively. Although the cost for the gasification process is higher, it generates greater profits due to the large-scale hydrogen production. LCA indicates that pyrolysis oil production has the lowest Global Warming Potential (GWP) among the processes, with values of 2300.70 kg CO₂ – eq/tonne of MPW for pyrolysis oil production, 3397.25 CO₂ -eq/tonne of MPW for gasification, and 4847.10 kg CO₂ -eq/tonne of MPW for incineration. This suggests that the environmental impact can be reduced by up to 50% when plastic waste is recycled instead of incineration. Overall, the gasification process is a complex and energy-intensive process. However, it has potential for hydrogen production. The pyrolysis oil production process transforms MPW into hydrocarbon fuel at low temperatures and has a low environmental footprint. Further exploration of gasification with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and oil production with advanced refining systems can be suggested for future research on waste plastic management.