International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology Research Vol. 1, No. 1, PP: 39 - 48, December 2012, ISSN: 2325-3924 (Online) 39 Available online www.ijretr.org Research Article Catalytic Degradation of PVC and PETE Mixture of Waste Plastic into Petrochemicals using Al 2 O 3 & Activated Carbon Moinuddin Sarker*, Mohammad Mamunor Rashid Natural State Research, Inc., Department of Research and Development, 37 Brown House Road (2 nd Fl), Stamford, CT 06902, USA, Phone: 203-406-0675, Fax: 203-406-9852, *E-mail: msarker@naturalstateresearch.com Abstract Waste plastics are creating environmental problems and occupying large amount of landfill. PVC waste is generating ~10 % and PET ~8% from total waste plastics. Catalytic degradation of polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene terephthalate mixture to petrochemical recovery at temperature ranges from 120-420 ºC using aluminum oxide and activated carbon. PET sample of 75 g and PVC sample of 25 g, total raw materials of 100 g was used in this experiment. Aluminum oxide of 5% (5g) as a catalyst and activated carbon of 5% (5g) was used. Laboratory batch process experiment was conducted under laboratory fume hood without vacuum system. Product fuel density is 0.85 g/ml. PVC and PET mixture to fuel production conversion rate is 42.9 % including liquid product and gas product. Product fuel was analyzed by using Perkin Elmer Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) and carbon chain detected C 2 to C 28 . Present technology can convert all PVC and PET to valuable fuel energy using catalytic degradation process. This process can remove PVC and PET waste plastic problems from environment and convert them into valuable petrochemical energy. Copyright © IJRETR, all right reserved. Keywords: polyvinyl chloride, degradation, petrochemicals, activated carbon, waste plastic, PETE, aluminum oxide Introduction Nowadays plastic consumption is more than ever increasing. Annual consumption of plastics in Occidental Europe is about 60 million tons, of which about 40% are used in packing and packaging applications, which in a very short period are converted into wastes, yielding about 15 million tons of such wastes per year [1]. At present, in Europe, about 50% of the annually generated plastic wastes are valorized, 60% by incineration with energy recovery and about 40% by recycling. Most of the recycled plastics are mechanically recycled, while less than 1% is chemically recycled [1]. Municipal waste plastic represents about 8 wt% of the municipal solid waste and it generally consists