The pyrolysis and hydropyrolysis of PVC mixed plastic waste alone and with petroleum residue was carried out at 150 and 350 8C under N 2 gas and at 430 8C under 6.5 MPa H 2 gas pressure. The behavior of plastic waste during thermal and catalytic decomposition has also been studied in single-and two-stage reaction processes. In the individual pyrolysis process, both the petroleum residue and polystyrene (PS) undergo more than 90% conversion to liquid and gaseous products, whereas low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) yielded lower conversions products, and polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) afforded somewhere a moderate to high conversion products.
In a single-stage pyrolysis reaction, PVC was processed with petroleum residue at 150 and 430 8C, under N 2 gas for 1 h at each temperature in a glass reactor. The model PVC and waste PVC showed slight variations in the products distribution obtained from the glass reactor. In two-stage process, model PVC, vacuum gas oil (VGO) and a number of different catalysts were used in a stainless steel autoclave micro tubular reactor at 350 8C under the stream of N 2 gas for 1 h and at 430 8C under 950 psi (6.5 MPa) H 2 pressure for the duration of 2 h. Significantly, different products distributions were obtained. Among the catalysts used, fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and hydrocracking catalysts (HC-1) were most effective in producing liquid fuel (hexane soluble) materials. The study shows that the catalytic coprocessing of PVC with VGO is a feasible process by which PVC and VGO materials can be converted into transportation fuels.