Maritime decarbonization: Alternate marine fuel from hydroprocessing of waste plastics

Marine transport accounts for ninety percent of the world's cargo movement. Residual fuels power the diesel engines of ships, which are predominantly composed of heavy molecular hydrocarbon compounds. To produce a fuel with less carbon emissions, this investigation is the first to convert waste plastics into diesel and then blend it further with HFO. This study utilized gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to explore the chemical composition of heavy oil. The high carbon content of heavy oil motivated us to explore the options of blending the low carbon number fuel obtained from waste plastics. To create a diesel equivalent, the waste polymers, which included PP, LDPE, and HDPE, were pyrolyzed and hydroprocessed using platinum sulphate on zirconia oxide supports. The produced blended fuel's alkane concentration matched diesel by 91%. The carbon number ranges C11-C15 and C16-C20 had n-alkane contents that were, respectively, 28% and 11% less than diesel. However, as would be predicted from combining heavy fuel oil, the n-alkanes with carbon number of C21-C25 were significantly greater. Compared to diesel, the blended fuel had 11% less isoalkanes. The blending of hydroprocessed fuel and commercial heavy fuel oil produced low carbon fuel which can be utilized for powering ships. The alternative fuel will produce far fewer emissions, making it an optional replacement to help the maritime industry meet its carbon emission reduction goals.