Iranian researchers have successfully localized the technology required to design, install and operate a continuous pyrolysis line for landfilled plastic waste, marking a significant step forward in the country's domestic waste-management and recycling capabilities.
The achievement was made by an Iranian knowledge-based company with the support and investment of the Barakat Knowledge-Based Institute.
Pyrolysis is a process in which materials such as plastic waste are heated to very high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, breaking them down into useful products such as fuel oil, gas and carbon residue. It offers a way to convert waste into valuable resources while reducing the amount of plastic sent to landfills.
The domestic development of the technology reduces reliance on foreign expertise and equipment.
According to the company's CEO, Saeed Zareh Deh-Abadi, the project initially began in 2020, when the company purchased and installed a plastic-waste-to-fuel production unit from China.
However, the Chinese supplier did not provide the technical documentation or operational details needed to run the facility, he said.
"The Chinese company did not provide us with the information required for implementation, commissioning or production parameters," Zareh Deh-Abadi said. "Our domestic specialists therefore had to develop and implement a substantial part of the technical knowledge themselves, including factory layouts, equipment positioning, piping systems and control systems."
During the initial testing phase, the team encountered an unexpected problem: instead of producing oil, the reactor generated wax, which clogged the processing lines.
Further investigations revealed that approximately 70 percent of the incoming feedstock consisted of leachate, or liquid waste, whose high water content prevented the pyrolysis reaction from being completed properly.
"Once we identified the high moisture content, we negotiated with the municipality and switched from wet waste to dry feedstock, which resolved the problem," the CEO explained.
Another major challenge was converting the facility from batch processing to continuous operation. Although the equipment had originally been introduced as a continuous-processing line, the company initially had to operate it in batch mode due to a lack of technical information.
Under batch operation, the reactor had to be cooled down and reheated each time the residual carbon was removed, resulting in substantial energy losses.
"Through technical assessments and numerous tests, we managed to develop and implement a continuous operating method," Zareh Deh-Abadi said.
He explained that the reactor is equipped with two screw conveyors, or augers, designed to feed raw materials into the system and discharge processed materials. This configuration allows new feedstock to enter the reactor while it is operating at approximately 500 degrees Celsius.
He added that most rubber pyrolysis facilities currently operating in Iran use rotary, batch-based systems that require repeated cooling and reheating.
According to the CEO, the project received support from the Barakat Knowledge-Based Institute starting in 2021.
Following an agreement with Isfahan Municipality, the 10-tonne processing line was installed at the city's recycling plant, he highlighted.
As part of the localization effort, several components, including burners, control systems and conveyors, were replaced with domestically manufactured alternatives, he noted.
Zareh Deh-Abadi also highlighted the environmental significance of processing buried plastic waste, particularly in northern Iranian cities, where the long-term accumulation of waste has contributed to soil, water and air pollution.
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