Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University have developed a two-stage method for converting plastic waste into fuel components that can be utilized in the production of popular gasoline grades, ranging from AI-80 to AI-98. This was reported to TASS by the university’s press service, noting that the final product fully complies with state standards for commercial gasoline.
The technology consists of two processing stages. In the first stage, plastic is heated to 450 degrees Celsius, causing it to decompose, and components suitable for further gasoline production are extracted from the resulting liquid mixture. In the second stage, the obtained gasoline fractions are passed through a special catalyst, yielding hydrocarbons—the foundation of conventional fuel. Experiments were conducted under various temperature conditions to understand how this affects the composition and properties of the final product.
The specialists also determined the volume of components derived from recycled plastic that can be added to other ingredients in the production of different gasoline grades. For AI-80, this share can reach up to 35% of the total volume; for AI-92, up to 25%; for AI-95, up to 15%; and for AI-98, up to 5%. In all cases, the resulting fuel remains fully compliant with state standards.
Ilya Bogdanov, an associate professor at TPU’s Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies, explained that traditional plastic pyrolysis yields liquid mixtures with a high content of alkenes and aromatic hydrocarbons, which cannot be used in commercial gasoline. According to him, the proposed two-stage method purifies the gasoline fraction from such “impurities,” making the raw material suitable for producing conventional fuel.
Currently, the researchers are continuing their work on improving the quality of the resulting fuel fractions and adapting the technology for industrial application. The study’s findings have been published in the scientific journal Polymers, which is ranked in the first quartile (Q1) with an impact factor of 4.9.
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