Plastic Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is the thermal degradation of long chain molecules into smaller, less complex molecules
through heat and pressure. This process is under oxygen-free conditions, with the tailoring of the
process conditions to produce oil, gas, and char. The generalized process for the thermal decomposition
of pyrolysis material (de Jong and Van Ommen, 2015) is as follows:

Pyrolysis can be utilised in mixtures of waste plastics unlike mechanical recycling, it can be used to treat
novel composite materials. As a recycling method it can enhance recycling rates of materials that would
be sent to landfill or incineration. However, there are challenges in that the inconsistent quality of the
feedstock that can result in processing issues and damage to the overall system.