Thermal and kinetic modeling of waste plastic pyrolysis process to enhance the process scalability: A state-of-the-art review

Pyrolysis has attracted significant interest from the scientific community and industry as a viable approach to addressing two global issues: the energy crisis and waste management. Plastic waste conversion to liquid fuels via the pyrolysis technique has been extensively studied. However, the path to commercialization encounters considerable challenges, predominantly from the prohibitive costs and inefficiencies associated with large-scale processes. To fill this gap, here, we performed a systematic literature review of the thermal and kinetic modeling of plastic waste pyrolysis (PWP) to enhance process scalability. Different kinetic models, from global to lumped kinetic models, have been highlighted to advance the design of PWP systems. Thermal modeling within the computational fluid dynamics framework offers an efficient and cost-effective alternative for studying and developing the PWP process. Several other thermal models, such as the apparent heat capacity model, the single particle method, and the melting and heat transfer models, have also been discussed and compared in the realm of PWP. Moreover, this review encompassed various case studies that highlighted the integration of thermal and kinetic modeling in real-world applications and demonstrated possible solutions to scale up the PWP process. The significant finding of this work indicates that modelling the PWP process is challenging due to the complex particle morphology and multi-phase dynamics, including solid-solid/liquid-gas/gas-solid interactions, as well as thermochemistry and heat and mass transfer limitations. Future studies should address these limitations, and ongoing research should be conducted to enhance the scalability of this technique from the laboratory to an industrial scale. • This review systematically overviews thermal and kinetic modeling studies for plastic waste pyrolysis. • Modeling in plastic pyrolysis helps understand reaction pathways, predict product distribution, and design reactors. • The thermal modeling of plastic pyrolysis involves an extensive study of heat transfer mechanisms within the reactor. • Kinetic models are critical to predict reaction type and product selectivity from plastic feedstocks. • Kinetic and thermal modeling can be an effective tool to enhance the pyrolysis process scalability.