Gasoline-range hydrocarbon production from hydrocracking of LDPE plastic waste utilizing nickel-promoted sulfated nanozirconia catalyst

Single-used LDPE plastic waste was converted to liquid fuels-like through hydrocracking over ZrO2, ZrO2 - SO4 (SZ), and Ni/ZrO2 - SO4 (NiSZ) under various operating conditions. Optimizing temperature reaction and feed-to-catalyst ratio were assessed to obtain the maximum gasoline fraction. The highest liquid product (65.91 wt.%) that contains a high fraction of gasoline (83.22%) was yielded from catalytic hydrocracking at 250 °C for 60 min with a feed-to-catalyst ratio of 100/1. Compared to ZrO2 and SZ, the 1.5NiSZ - R catalyst showed comparatively high catalytic activity, selectivity, and sufficient recyclability for producing gasoline up to four cycles