Investigation of spherical alumina supported catalyst for carbon nanotubes production from waste polyethylene

Thermo-chemical conversion of plastics provides an economic flexible and environmentally friendly method to recycle waste plastics, and generates valuable materials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and syngas. The development of catalysts is a key challenge for improving the quantity and quality of CNTs. In this study, spherical catalysts loaded with Ni were studied to control CNTs growth using waste plastic as the feedstock. Three parameters were studied, including catalytic temperature, Ni content and plastics/catalysts ratio. A fixed two-stage reactor was used for thermal pyrolysis of plastic waste and the materials were characterized with various methods including scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), temperature programme oxidation (TPO) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that different contents of Ni loaded on sphere results in the formation of metal particles with various sizes, thus leading to CNTs production with different quantity and quality. In addition, an optimal catalytic temperature at 800 °C is suggested for CNTs formation with the Ni/sphere catalyst, as the catalyst might not be activated at 600 °C and 700 °C.