A new chemical conversion process holds the promise of transforming the world`s plastic waste into useful products like clean fuels.
The announcement (https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/Q1/millions-of-tons-of-the-worlds-plastic-waste-could-be-turned-into-clean-fuels,-other-products-through-chemical-conversion.html) was made by Purdue University.
Why is this research so important? Because as the United Nations estimates, there more than 8 million tons of plastic that flow into the oceans each year.
“Our strategy is to create a driving force for recycling by converting polyolefin waste into a wide range of valuable products, including polymers, naphtha (a mixture of hydrocarbons), or clean fuels.”, commented Linda Wang, the Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue Univerity and a leading author of the research team developing the technology.
Wang added:
“Our conversion technology has the potential to boost the profits of the recycling industry and shrink the world’s plastic waste stock.”
The inventors of the technology include Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen, a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue and the graduate student Kai Jan. The technology itself has the capability of converting more than 90 percent of polyolefin waste into many different products, which feature pure polymers, naphtha, fuels, or monomers.
What is the conversion process incorporating? Selective extraction and hydrothermal liquefaction. Firstly, the plastic is being turned into naphtha, it can be used as a feedstock for other chemicals or further divided into specialty solvents or other products.
The clean fuels that are derived for the polyolefin waste that is generated each year can satisfy 4 percent of the annual demand for gasoline or diesel fuels.
You can see how it`s happening in the video down below:
Read more about the research here.