Scientists improve process for turning hard-

to-recycle plastic waste into fuel

29 September 2022, by Matthew Carroll

technologies that can recycle real waste plastics."

The scientists conducted co-pyrolysis of two of the

most common types of plastic, low-density
polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene
terephthalate (PET), along with different catalysts
to study the interaction effects between the plastics.
They found one catalyst may be a good candidate
for converting mixed LDPE and PET waste into
valuable liquid fuels. Catalysts are materials added
to pyrolysis that can aid the process, like inducing
the plastic to break down selectively and at lower
temperatures.

"This type of work can allow us to provide

Hilal Ezgi Toraman, Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. guidelines or suggestions to industry," said
Faculty Fellow in the John and Willie Leone Family Toraman, who is the Virginia S. and Philip L.
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn Walker Jr. Faculty Fellow in the John and Willie
State. Credit: Penn State University Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral
Engineering at Penn State. "It's important to
discover what kind of synergies exist between
these materials during advanced recycling and
Turning plastic waste into useful products through what types of applications they may be right for
chemical recycling is one strategy for addressing before scaling up."
Earth's growing plastic pollution problem. A new
study may improve the ability of one method, The plastics, LDPE and PET, are commonly found
called pyrolysis, to process hard-to-recycle mixed in food packaging, which often consists of layers of
plastics—like multilayer food packaging—and different plastic material that are engineered to
generate fuel as a byproduct, the scientists said. keep products fresh and safe, but are also difficult
to recycle with traditional processes because the
Pyrolysis involves heating plastic in an oxygen-free layers have to be separated, which is an expensive
environment, causing the materials to break down process.
and creating new liquid or gas fuels in the process.
Current commercial applications, however, either "If you want to recycle them, you need to basically
operate below the necessary scale or can only separate those layers and maybe do something
handle certain type of plastics, the scientists said. with the single streams," Toraman said. "But
pyrolysis can handle it, so it's a very important
"We have a very limited understanding of mixed- option. It's not easy to find such a technique that
plastic pyrolysis," said Hilal Ezgi Toraman, can accept that messy complexity of the these
assistant professor of energy engineering and different plastic materials."
chemical engineering at Penn State.
"Understanding the interaction effects between The first step to developing new commercial
different polymers during advanced recycling is pyrolysis processes hinges on having a better
very important while we are trying to develop mechanistic understanding of how dynamic plastic

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waste mixtures decompose and interact, the Toraman said. "We need to include those plastics
scientists said. into the economy again, to have a circular
economy, otherwise they will just end up in landfills,
The scientists conducted pyrolysis on LDPE and leaching potentially toxic substances into the soil
PET separately and together and observed and water or contaminate oceans. So doing
interaction effects between the two polymers during something, finding a value, is better than nothing.
tests with each of three catalysts they used. The Plastics are currently considered as waste because
scientists reported the findings in the journal we treat these valuable resources as waste."
Reaction Chemistry & Engineering.
Other Penn State researchers on this project were
"We saw products that can be very good Sean Timothy Okonsky, doctoral student in the
candidates for gasoline application," Toraman said. Department of Chemical Engineering, and J.V.
Jayarama Krishna, postdoctoral researcher in the
The team also developed a kinetic model that was John and Willie Leone Family Department of
able to accurately model the interaction effects Energy and Mineral Engineering.
observed during co-pyrolysis of LDPE and PET
with each of the catalysts. Kinetic models attempt More information: Sean Timothy Okonsky et al,
to predict the behavior of a system and are Catalytic co-pyrolysis of LDPE and PET with
important for better understanding why reactions HZSM-5, H-beta, and HY: experiments and kinetic
are occurring. modelling, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering
(2022). DOI: 10.1039/D2RE00144F
Toraman's research group focuses on doing
experiments under well-defined and well-controlled
conditions to understand interaction effects during
advanced recycling of mixed plastics and the Provided by Pennsylvania State University
corresponding reaction mechanisms.

"Systematic and fundamental studies on

understanding reaction pathways and developing
kinetic models are the first steps toward process
optimization," Toraman said. "If we don't have our
kinetic models right, our reaction mechanisms
accurately, then if we scale up for pilot plants or
large-scale operations, the results won't be
accurate."

Toraman said she hopes the research leads to

better environmental responsibility in the recovery,
processing and utilization of Earth resources.

A global analysis of all mass-produced plastics

found that a total of 8.3 billion metric tons of new
plastics is estimated to be generated worldwide to
date. As of 2015, 79% of plastic waste, which
contains numerous hazardous chemicals, has been
left to accumulate in landfills or natural
environments with approximately 12% incinerated
and only 9% recycled.

"Whatever we do is better than doing nothing,"

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 APA citation: Scientists improve process for turning hard-to-recycle plastic waste into fuel (2022,
September 29) retrieved 3 December 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-09-scientists-hard-to-
recycle-plastic-fuel.html

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