The conversion of expanded polystyrene waste to liquid fuel using Cu-Al2O3 by the thermal catalytic cracking process

Abstract The high use of plastic and the length of time the decomposition will worsen environmental conditions. The processing of plastic waste by incineration was not a safe method for the environment because it will produce gas emissions that potentially become pollutants. The catalytic cracking process is one of the ways to process polystyrene plastic waste into liquid fuel. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of cracking temperature and mass of catalyst towards the volume and fuel quality of the production. The research conducted through the thermal catalytic cracking process. The mass of catalyst Cu-Al 2 O 3 is 0.5 g, 1 g, 1.5 g. The cracking temperature is 150 °C, 200 °C, 250 °C. Cracking time is 90 minutes. The highest volume of the liquid fuel was 113 mL at a 250°C cracking temperature and the addition of 1g catalyst. The results of the best density analysis obtained at 0.74 g/mL, and the octane number of RON is 100, MON is 90, and AKI is 94.4.