ABSTRACT
This study investigated the destructive distillation of polyethylene based waste materials and Ahmadu Bello University Consultancy Services (ABUCONS) pure water sachets were used as the source for the waste polyethylene. This work involved carrying out destructive distillation on polyethylene waste with and without catalysts and monitoring the improvement of reaction rates with temperature. The procedure employed was to set up a destructive distillation reactor in which liquefied petroleum gas was used for heating, and the effects of two catalysts were investigated. The catalysts were "Magnasiev 370" used in the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) and Lead Sulfide. It was found out that there was high yield of distillates at between 400oC and 460oC, with highest value at 450oC using the FCC catalyst. It was also found that the thermal degradation without catalyst was faster at 450oC than catalytic degradation at 420oC using the FCC Catalyst. The liquid products at the different operating conditions had similar characteristics, in that they all contained mixed bases of paraffins and olefins of the same range. It was concluded that temperature have a more prominent role to play in the enhancement of the degradation of polyethylene materials.