Microwave pyrolysis of waste ship lubricant using activated carbon in a sti reaction bed

Abstract

Waste ship lubricant contains high amounts of hydrocarbon and calorific value which has the potential to be converted into value-added products. In this study, a treatment of waste ship lubricant under microwave radiation was investigated using different types of microwave absorbers which are activated carbon, natural zeolite and aluminium oxide. Activated carbon showed the greatest yield of pyrolysis oil where the highest yield obtained is 66 wt.% compared to natural zeolite which is 34 wt.% and aluminium oxide is 23 wt.% at pyrolysis temperature of 600°C. The calorific value obtained using different absorbers are in the range of 43-47 MJ/kg, indicating high combustion energy can be achieved by microwave pyrolysis. The recovered pyrolysis oil showed the formation of light aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon that could potentially be used as a fuel. Activated carbon shows promising results in terms of heating rate profile, product yield and chemical composition with higher desired hydrocarbon compound.