Production of low-density poly-ethylene (LDPE) from chemical recycling of plastic waste: Process analysis.

Waste-to-Chemicals production represents a sustainable pathway considering the new Circular Economy approach and the environmental problems related to waste disposal management. This paper concerns about the LDPE production starting from a nonrecyclable plastic waste feedstock, providing a solution to both plastic demand and plastic waste disposal. The proposed process combines different technologies starting from a high temperature gasification of waste, which leads to a no tar syngas production. The present paper provides a feasibility analysis in order to reach an interesting product yield and an innovative process configuration, reporting the overall plant block scheme and the Process Flow Diagram. The heat and material balances of the entire production chain, including the steam production, the byproducts separations and the plant furnace units, were developed via the simulation software Aspen Plus V8.0. The paper shows each simulator flowsheet of some significant plant sections, reporting all the necessary equipment and thermal recoveries and the properties of each plant unit outlet stream. Last but not at least a feedstock analysis is developed by comparing the mixed plastic feedstock to the RDF one, showing the resulting data and considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]