Process of degradation of waste plastic polymeric material mixture and relating plant

1 . A degradation process of mixtures of waste plastic polymeric material containing halogenated polymers comprising the steps of:

a) melting said plastic material at T>200° C. and ≤220° C.;

b) dehalogenating the molten mixture by production of gaseous halogenidric acid from the previous T stage between 320 and 380° C.; and

c) degrading the dehalogenated mixture from step (b) at a temperature between 410° C. and 500° C. and with retention times >5 minutes and ≤20 minutes, wherein the reaction products mainly comprise low boiling hydrocarbons, and in lesser extent hydrogen, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, heavy oils, residues.

2 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein said waste halogenated polymers are fluorinated or chlorinated polymers.

3 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein said halogenated polymers are chlorinated polymers.

4 . The degradation process according to claim 1 , wherein the process comprises a step prior to step a) of pre-treating by comminution of the waste plastic polymeric material, and a separation of metal components.

5 . The process according to claim 4 , wherein said separation of the metal parts takes place in a separate step after comminution.

6 . The process according to claim 5 , wherein, in the metal separation step, the most refractory polymers to degradation separate from the mixture of waste polymers.

7 . The degradation process according to claim 1 , wherein during the melting step a) a fluid medium resistant to process temperatures selected from a high-boiling hydrocarbon or a diathermic oil is added to said plastic material.

8 . The degradation process according to claim 7 , wherein the fluid medium is added in quantities ranging from 2% to 99% by volume on the total volume of said waste plastic material and said fluid medium.

9 . The degradation process according to claim 1 , wherein the process comprises a step of separating the hydrocarbons produced in step c).

10 . The degradation process according to claim 1 , wherein the process comprises a recycling step at step a) of the waste produced during step c) and/or waste halogenated plastic polymeric material not reacting in step c).

11 . The degradation process according to claim 1 , wherein the waste plastic polymeric material comprises at least one or more polymers selected from linear or branched polymers, aromatic polymers, chlorinated plastics, polycarbonates, polyamides or a combination thereof.

12 . The degradation process according to claim 1 , wherein said process is carried out in a plant which comprises:

a unit in which said plastic material is melted according to the working conditions of step a),

a unit in which said molten material, coming from the previous unit, is dehalogenated, according to the working conditions of step b)

a unit in which said dehalogenated, molten material from the previous unit is subjected to thermal degradation according to the operating procedures of step c).

13 . The process according to claim 12 wherein the unit in which thermal degradation c) occurs is a tubular reactor equipped with several multipass tubes.

14 . The process according to claim 12 comprising at least one separation unit in which the hydrogen and the non condensable C1-C2 fractions are separated from the remaining light and condensable C3-C7 fractions, from the intermediate and condensable C8-C16 fractions, from the high-boiling heavy fractions (C17-C20/C30) and residues containing any solid fractions >C30.

15 . The process according to claim 14 , wherein said at least one separation unit comprises a further unit or a section thereof in which the C3-C7 fractions are condensed.

16 . The process according to claim 15 , wherein said further separation unit or section thereof, in which the C3-C7 fractions are condensed, it is combined with at least one other unit in which the intermediate C8-C16 hydrocarbon streams are split from the high-boiling heavy C17-C20/C30 hydrocarbons and C30+ residues.

17 . The process according to claim 14 , wherein the residue containing any solids is mainly recycled, except for a drain to avoid accumulations, in a unit upstream of said plant, where it can be gasified/enhanced to energetically self-sustain the whole process.

18 . The process according to claim 12 , wherein the unit in which step b takes place, comprises a further unit or a section thereof for separating of halogenidric acid, from the dehalogenated polymer.

19 . The process according to claim 12 , wherein non-condensable C1-C2 fractions are destined to the production of hydrogen for the hydro-finishing of hydrocarbons and are sent to a conventional train normally used in a refinery for the generation of hydrogen comprising:

(i) a naphtha steam reformer in which syngas is produced;

(ii) the syngas coming from the previous step ii) is sent to a water-gas shift reactor; and

(iii) the hydrogen from the previous step (ii) is separated from the CO2 by amine washing or by pressure swing adsorption.

20 . The degradation process according to claim 12 , wherein the plant in which the process is conducted comprises:

a soaker downstream of the unit in which step c) takes place, in order to improve the degradation of the dehalogenated mixture coming from step (b) and treated in step c).

21 . The degradation process according to claim 12 , wherein the unit in which step a) takes place and/or the unit in which step b) takes place comprise at least one reactor for gas-phase non-isothermal reactions ( 100 ) comprising:

a tubular reactor ( 10 ) comprising at least one tube ( 11 ) through which the reaction fluids (A) pass and in which the mixture of hydrocarbons produced in step c) is defined, and in which tubular reactor a portion ( 30 ) is defined where at least one non-isothermal reaction take place,

a shell ( 20 ) external to said tubular reactor ( 10 ) in which the polymeric mixture (B) passes

wherein

(i) the reaction fluids (A) enter at the head of said tubular reactor ( 10 ) and exit at the tail of said tubular reactor ( 10 ), and said portion ( 30 ) where at least one non-isothermal reaction takes place is filled with a specific catalyst for said reaction;

(ii) the cooling/heating polymeric mixture (B) flowing in the shell can be introduced into said reactor in solid phase, liquid phase and/or a combination of both and acts both as a cooling fluid and as a heater for the reaction fluids (A) at different portions of the same tubular reactor ( 10 );

(iii) in said external shell ( 20 ) at least one liquid-gas separation zone ( 40 ) is defined, in which at least one liquid gas separation step of the polymeric mixture (B) takes place,

(iv) in which:

when the reaction is exothermic, said reactor is used to preheat the reagent fluids (A) before said exothermic reaction takes place and the catalyst is located at the tail of the reactor.

22 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein said reactor ( 100 ) is inserted, in the unit in which the first thermal step a) takes place, the exothermic hydrocarbon hydro-finishing reaction is carried out in said reactor ( 100 ), the flow (A) contains as entering reactants hydrocarbons and hydrogen which are fed at a temperature of 200° C.-240° C. in a bath of molten plasmix at about 250° C.-270° C. to initially activate the catalyst, the exothermic reaction will then progressively raise the temperature of the catalytic bed, which will then be maintained at 300° C.-320° C.

23 . The process according to claim 21 , wherein said reactor ( 100 ) is inserted in the unit in which the dechlorination step b) takes place and in said reactor ( 100 ) the exothermic hydrocarbon hydro-finishing reaction is carried out, the flow (A) contains hydrocarbons and hydrogen as entering reactants which are fed at a temperature of 200° C.-240° C. in a molten plasmix bath at about 250° C.-270° C. to initially activate the catalyst, the exothermic reaction will then progressively raise the temperature of the catalytic bed, which will then be maintained at 350-370° C.

24 . The process according to claim 15 wherein the condensed C3-C7 hydrocarbons are further treated in a separation process.

25 . The process according to claim 16 wherein the intermediate hydrocarbons are further treated in a separation process to obtain gasolines and gas oils.