u/AwaisA20

I carried out a bunch of experiments where I performed pyrolysis on PP, HDPE, ABS and used engine oil with varying results the big 1L bottle is the fuel from the used engine oil pyrolysis ( also the black stuff in the bottom is activated carbon lol )

With PP - it made for some very clear yellow liquid that was more rich in lighter hydrocarbons closer to petrol and less larger hydrocarbons like diesel it also gave for a high liquid yield with little residue

With HDPE - it created a lot of wax that needed to be re cracked but yielded similar liquid yield to PP except with HDPE it was heavily biased on the diesel range hydrocarbons

With ABS it’s a complex mixture of different compounds but with my run I got a very large yield of styrene which quickly polymerised since I don’t have any method to store it or any inhibitors but as well as in my particular run I got a large amount of toluene range hydrocarbons

With the used engine oil it was definitely more challenging due to the breakdown of the oil and its additives at the elevated temperatures required creating a lot of H2S which needed to be monitored closely and the exhaust gasses to be scrubbed and then exhausted outside the first distillate was very dirty and it required multiple distillations and adsorbents to clean it up

Put myself up to the challenge of collecting as clean as I can base oil from used engine oil and used gearbox oil I did this via vacuum distillation and treating with adsorbents

The picture with 2 jars shows engine oil untouched on the left and the base I got fully treated on the right and the picture with 3 jars shows untouched used gearbox oil on the left the untreated base oil in the middle and the fully treated base oil on the right