Sustainable chemical processing of municipal plastic waste: Techno-economic and life cycle assessment of incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis oil production

Abstract

In the pursuit of carbon neutrality through a circular economy, interest in plastic waste treatment is increasing. Key chemical recycling methods include gasification and pyrolysis. While past studies have primarily focused on single recycling technologies, a systematic comparative analysis has rarely been reported. This study provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis oil production enabled by the integration of chemical process modeling, efficiency comparison, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle assessment, coupling Aspen Plus and the GREET hybrid model. Gasification showed higher efficiency (82.13 %) compared to pyrolysis oil production (60.68 %). Incineration incurred a disposal cost of $61.23/MT of municipal plastic waste, while gasification generated $782.36 in net profit, and pyrolysis oil production yielded $338.13. Incineration had the highest emissions at 4847.09 kg CO<inf>2</inf>-eq/MT, followed by gasification at 3397.25 kg CO<inf>2</inf>-eq, and pyrolysis oil production at 2300.69 kg CO<inf>2</inf>-eq, making the pyrolysis oil production the least carbon-intensive method. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.