A new plastic upcycling technology provides a way to reuse waste carbon and converts waste plastic into fuel sources to reduce environmental impact.
FREMONT, CA: Researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a new technology to divert problem plastics from landfills and convert them into fuel sources. Increasing conversion to usable products while utilising less of the precious metal ruthenium is the goal of a plastic recycling invention that does more with less.
The very low metal load is the key discovery of this invention. This new technique efficiently converts plastics into valuable commodity chemicals. Furthermore, it produces less methane, an undesirable greenhouse gas as a byproduct. This new result identifies the opportunity to develop effective, selective, versatile catalysts for plastic upcycling.
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
Less Metal is More in Plastic Upcycling
Petroleum-based plastic waste represents an untapped carbon-based chemical source that can be the starting material for useful, durable materials and fuels. Although there is an ample supply of recycling bins, only a little plastic is recycled currently, primarily for economic and practical reasons. However, researchers are changing the dynamic by applying their expertise to efficiently break chemical bonds.
Adding hydrogen or a reaction known as hydrogenolysis to difficult-to-recycle plastics like polypropylene and polyethylene presents a promising strategy to convert plastic waste into value-added small hydrocarbons. This process, however, requires efficient and selective catalysts to make it economically feasible.
A track record of research expertise in single-atom catalysts helped the team understand why less is more. The researchers observed the transition to disorder on the molecular level and then used a developed theory to show that single atoms are an effective stimulus in the experimental work. The researchers also explain this new work exploring the role of the support material in improving the system's efficiency.
This new research investigated cheaper and more easily available support materials to replace cerium oxide. Researchers found that a chemically modified titanium oxide enables a more effective and selective pathway for polypropylene upcycling.
To make this method applicable for use with mixed plastic recycling streams, the researchers are exploring how the presence of chlorine affects the chemical conversion efficiency and looking into more demanding extraction conditions. When there is an unavailability of clean plastic sources, there will be chlorine from polyvinylchloride and other sources in an industrial upcycling process. Chlorine contaminates the plastic upcycling reaction. Therefore, researchers wanted to understand what effect chlorine has on the system. This fundamental understanding will help businesses convert waste plastic that would lead to environmental pollution into useful products.
More in News