The answer is yes. You can use solar heating to pyrolyze plastics (both thermoset and thermplastic types). The pyrolysis, however, has to be conducted in an inert atmosphere like nitrogen gas.

To give you an example of how high the temperature can be using solar concentrators, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland developed a solar-concentrators kiln for calcination of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) which can reach temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius.

Professor Yehia Khalil, Yale University, USA

Fellow of the University of Oxford, UK

Thanks Prof. Khalil, I am developing new projects on fuel production from wastes using only solar concentrated heat. Your suggestions are welcome and very helpful for me.

Regards.

DR. KHAN

Yes, it is possible, but not effective.

There are lots of potential problems with continuous high temperature pyrolysis powered by solar energy- like what happens if it gets cloudy at the wrong time. But it is still a promising way to use solar energy.  Currently it is still impractical to use solar energy for continuous very high temperature operations but hopefully your research can help identify many of the challenges so one day we can overcome them. 

Dear Dr. Manner thanks for valuable comments.

Yes, we can do the pyrolysis of plastic material using solar energy. But, the process is very expensive and need maintenance periodically.

best regards!

You might get much more interesting products if you pyrolyse under hydrogen. . .  but then it is a question of where you get the hydrogen from.

Thanks dear Tony Maine

Of course it is posible to pirolyze plastic by solar heating (concentrated). Nevertheless, as another scientist comments, if you have lack of sun the temperature of the process could decline under the desired temperatura or, on the contrary go higher that the expected. One suggestion could be to have a phase change material/molten salts at operation temperature to mantain the stability of the  pyrolysis conditions (best performance of the reactor and better products quality). Sorry, but that´s only an idea because unfortunately i have not worked in that field of solar pyrolysis.

I hope the idea could be useful for your research.

Best regards,

Ruth

I don't think so; as the pyrolysis process needs high temperature range depends upon the type of pyrolysis: very fast, fast or slow pyrolysis "550-1000 C", but solar energy can be used for energy storage and electricity production. If it is possible, the economics will be infeasible and ineffective way for high efficiency process.

I am considering that the plastic that is taking into account is a waste, that should be minimized or reduced, that can be converted into high valuable products in the case of plastic pyrolysis. Please, see interesting articles from the University of the Basque Country (Olazar et al.) about this issue.

Of course,  it is not a way defined to produce high efficiency electricity generation. Other renovable sources are more efficient only for electricity production, but i think that waste valorisation ( of plastic in this case) is the core of the project of Dr. Khan.

Thanks dear Fernandez

Yes but to achieve high temperature  (about  400 to  500C) you have to concentrate solar  radiation on the pyrolysis reactor.

Thanks dear Kamel

It is indeed possible to achieve very high temperatures up to about 1000 C -  but not yet contuously for long periods of time.  It is even possible that in 20-30 years this may be a much more desirable processing option for plastic waste but for at least the next decade or so the most effecient/economica way to upgrade non PVC plastic is probably as feed to a Fluidize Bed Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) that can be found in most of the world's oil refineries.  Many plastics are very good FCCU feeds but it will probably require some relatively minor equipment modifications at most refineries.

In order to  carry out any project,some steps are mandatory:  Initiation, execution and implementation.  For the sake of black and white things, you can do it, but its viability in  the market  is questionable.  Rather than modify the  equipment, if we pay attention to enhance the fuel  quality , it  will be  beneficial for mankind. I can give you clue if you use the waste gases for   pyrolysis of  plastic,  it will make  pyrolysis more effective than solar heating.    

pyrolysis of plastic waste can be achived by Scheffler fixed focus solar concentrator

Dear colleague.

I carried out extensive research on the production of liquid fuel from the waste plastics. If you need to get the components of liquid fuel from plastic, then the temperature is 450-550 degrees Celsius.

Such temperatures have already been realized in solar thermal power plants.

Аor example: http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/ashalim-solar-project#.Wp5Rk2rFJQJ

This direction has a great future.

Best regards.

yes its possible.

temperature range you get will be 500-700 deg C.

Costly and high maintenance required.

Solar concentrator can be used in this case. But process cost efficiency should be checked.

The use of concentrating solar technologies has proved its economic efficiency for electric power stations south of 37 degrees north latitude.

Economic indicators pyrolysis of plastic can be higher several times.

Due to direct heating by solar energy.

Well it requires serious power input from the solar.You can try and solve a problem .kindly check out my question on providing solutions to ocean plastic pollutant through pyrolysis.For this question you can look into principle of energized solar cookers or harness the technology into a scale up level.