Conversion of plastic waste into fuels: A critical review

Li, Ning; Liu, Hengxin; Cheng, Zhanjun; Yan, Beibei; Chen, Guanyi; Wang, Shaobin

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127460

Cited by 98 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…Among them, the mostly reported routes are thermal treatments, such as pyrolysis, gasification, hydrothermal liquefaction, and hydrogenolysis, which require high energy inputs and harsh reaction conditions. [31,[187][188][189] Recently, photocatalytic conversion of plastics into chemicals has attracted significant interest due to its mild and environmentally benign conditions using sunlight as the energy source, and often with improved selectivity compared to traditional thermocatalysis. The photon energy harnessed by photocatalysis enables the precise cleavage of targeted chemical bonds with other functional groups preserved.…”

Section: General Considerations and Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photocatalytic Conversion of Plastic Waste: From Photodegradation to Photosynthesis

Chu

Zhang

Zhao

et al. 2022

Advanced Energy Materials

123

106

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Plastic waste remains a global challenge due to the massive amounts being produced without satisfactory treatment technologies for recycling and upcycling. Photocatalytic processes are emerging as green and promising approaches to upcycle plastics into value‐added products under mild conditions using sunlight as the energy source. In this review, the recent advances in plastic conversion through photocatalysis have been comprehensively summarized. Special emphasis is placed on the photocatalytic mechanism and the selective CC and CH bond transformations of plastics to access fuels, chemicals, and materials. Finally, the challenges and the perspectives on establishing a new paradigm toward a sustainable and circular plastic economy are also put forward.

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Section: General Considerations and Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photocatalytic Conversion of Plastic Waste: From Photodegradation to Photosynthesis

Chu

Zhang

Zhao

et al. 2022

Advanced Energy Materials

123

106

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“…The energetic use of plastic waste is one of the effective alternatives to avoid inappropriate disposal. Converting plastics to fuels can reduce harmful emissions and pathogenic contaminants compared to incineration and landfill disposal [88]. The predicted decline of fossil fuels, particularly petrochemicals that are present in the plastic itself, has attracted the attention of the scientific community to seek and obtain possible energy resources due to the continuous increase in demand for energy [89].…”

Section: Energy Recyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversion of Plastic Waste into Supports for Nanostructured Heterogeneous Catalysts: Application in Environmental Remediation

et al. 2021

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Plastics are ubiquitous in our society and are used in many industries, such as packaging, electronics, the automotive industry, and medical and health sectors, and plastic waste is among the types of waste of higher environmental concern. The increase in the amount of plastic waste produced daily has increased environmental problems, such as pollution by micro-plastics, contamination of the food chain, biodiversity degradation and economic losses. The selective and efficient conversion of plastic waste for applications in environmental remediation, such as by obtaining composites, is a strategy of the scientific community for the recovery of plastic waste. The development of polymeric supports for efficient, sustainable, and low-cost heterogeneous catalysts for the treatment of organic/inorganic contaminants is highly desirable yet still a great challenge; this will be the main focus of this work. Common commercial polymers, like polystyrene, polypropylene, polyethylene therephthalate, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride, are addressed herein, as are their main physicochemical properties, such as molecular mass, degree of crystallinity and others. Additionally, we discuss the environmental and health risks of plastic debris and the main recycling technologies as well as their issues and environmental impact. The use of nanomaterials raises concerns about toxicity and reinforces the need to apply supports; this means that the recycling of plastics in this way may tackle two issues. Finally, we dissert about the advances in turning plastic waste into support for nanocatalysts for environmental remediation, mainly metal and metal oxide nanoparticles.

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“… 3 Pyrolysis/gasification, hydrothermal liquefaction, catalytic conversion, and advanced oxidation are the main methods for fuel production from waste plastics. 4 , 7 Among the existing techniques, pyrolysis seems to be the dominant way used, with the advantages of generating various products. 8 , 9 However, pure waste plastics cannot be converted into commercial-grade products on a plant scale by pyrolysis because of the low technical efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the landfill will occupy great amounts of valuable land, and the waste plastics degrade gradually because of their nondegradability . The pollutants carried by waste plastics would contaminate groundwater as a result of rainwater washing . The continuous landfill disposal of waste plastics will cause a large loss of recyclable resources and serious environmental issues. , Incineration, another conventional processing technique, can reduce the volume effectively and recover energy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fuel conversion from waste plastics can reduce the emissions of harmful substances compared with incineration and landfill treatment . Pyrolysis/gasification, hydrothermal liquefaction, catalytic conversion, and advanced oxidation are the main methods for fuel production from waste plastics. , Among the existing techniques, pyrolysis seems to be the dominant way used, with the advantages of generating various products. , However, pure waste plastics cannot be converted into commercial-grade products on a plant scale by pyrolysis because of the low technical efficiency. , Co-pyrolysis with other solid fuels could be a solution for the high-efficient transformation of waste plastics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Physico-Chemical Structure and Gasification Performance of Co-Pyrolytic Char Produced by the Pyrolysis of Polyvinyl Chloride Blends with Two Rank Coals

Meng

Wang

et al. 2022

ACS Omega

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Co-pyrolysis of waste plastics and coal has been considered to be an environmentally friendly and scalable waste treatment technology. This study investigated the influence of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) on the physico-chemical structure and gasification performance of co-pyrolytic char with lignite (PZ) and bituminous (SM) coal. The structure characteristics were explored by applying an X-ray diffractometer and a specific surface area analyzer. The quantitative analysis on the influence of PVC on pore characteristics and carbon microcrystal structure was conducted by the fractal theory and deconvolution method. The gasification performance was explored using a thermogravimetric analyzer. When the PZ blending ratio was larger than 50%, the specific surface area of PVCPZ chars enlarged significantly due to the increment of mesopores. Nevertheless, the effect of SM on the pore structure was not pronounced, and the specific surface area of PVCSM chars was as small as PVC char. A higher PZ blending ratio benefited the formation of mesopores with an aperture smaller than 10 nm for PVCPZ chars, whereas SM had little influence on pore diameter distributions of PVCSM chars attributed to the remarkable coating effects. The values of fractal dimension of co-pyrolytic char were larger than PVC char, revealing that the adjunction of coal increased the pore surface coarseness and improved the complicacy of the pore structure. Quantitative analysis on XRD spectra indicated that the disorder extent of the carbon structure was improved because of coal addition, and the influence of lignite on the disorder degree of the carbon structure was more significant. The gasification reaction of co-pyrolytic char showed significant synergistic effects, resulting in the improvement of gasification performance.

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Conversion of plastic waste into fuels: A critical review

Cited by 98 publications

References 100 publications

Photocatalytic Conversion of Plastic Waste: From Photodegradation to Photosynthesis

Photocatalytic Conversion of Plastic Waste: From Photodegradation to Photosynthesis

Conversion of Plastic Waste into Supports for Nanostructured Heterogeneous Catalysts: Application in Environmental Remediation

Physico-Chemical Structure and Gasification Performance of Co-Pyrolytic Char Produced by the Pyrolysis of Polyvinyl Chloride Blends with Two Rank Coals

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