Process for the preparation of polycarbonates from waste plastic feedstocks

Process for the production of polycarbonates from waste plastics feedstocks comprising the steps in this order of:

• (a) providing a hydrocarbon stream A obtained by hydrotreatment of a pyrolysis oil produced from a waste plastics feedstock;
• (b) optionally providing a hydrocarbon stream B;
• (c) supplying a feed C comprising a fraction of the hydrocarbon stream A and optionally a fraction of the hydrocarbon stream B to a thermal cracker furnace comprising cracking coil(s);
• (d) performing a thermal cracking operation in the presence of steam to obtain a cracked hydrocarbon stream D;
• (e) supplying the cracked hydrocarbon stream D to a separation unit;
• (f) performing a separation operation in the separation unit to obtain a product stream E comprising propylene and a product stream F comprising benzene;
• (g) supplying the product stream E and the product stream F to a reactor and performing a reaction and one or more separation step to obtain a product stream G comprising phenol;
• (h) supplying the product stream G and acetone to a reactor and performing a reaction and one or more separation step to obtain a product stream H comprising bisphenol-A;
• and
• (i) supplying the product stream H with phosgene or diphenyl carbonate to a reactor and performing a polymerisation reaction to obtain a polycarbonate,
• wherein in step (d):
• the coil outlet temperature is ≥800 and ≤850° C.;
• and
• the weight ratio of steam to feed C is >0.3 and <0.8.