Recovery of Liquid Fuel through Thermal Pyrolysis of Medical Waste (Waste Syringe) in a Batch Reactor

Various types of plastic materials are important items of medical waste one of which is syringe wastage covers an important fraction of plastic medical waste. These plastic syringes have a great potentiality to be used as liquid or gaseous fuel as well as source of hydrocarbon. High density Polyethylene and Polypropylene are the main components of syringes. The pyrolysis process was accomplished in a batch reactor. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy analysis of pyrolysis liquid were carried out in this study which specified the presence of aromatic compounds, alkenes and alkanes. The chemical and physical properties of the pyrolysis liquid were much closer to commercial fuel like diesel and gasoline. The density, viscosity and calorific value of the liquid product were 758 kg/m 3 , 4.75 cSt and 39.561 MJ/kg. The maximum amount of liquid yields was 53 wt. % at 220 ° C and char yields 70.00 wt. % at 180 ° C respectively. The gas yield increased from 10 to 18 wt. % over the whole temperature range, while char yield decreased from 70 to 29 wt. %.It could be used as an alternative source of energy.