Hydrothermal decomposition of polyethylene waste to hydrocarbons rich oil

Čolnik, Maja; Kotnik, Petra; Knez, Željko; Škerget, Mojca

doi:10.1016/j.supflu.2020.105136

Cited by 43 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Apart from the study of supercritical water‐assisted PP pyrolysis, PE plastics have been successfully converted into oil product with high heating values, in which the maximum productivities of 98 wt% is delivered. [ 167 ]…”

Section: Rational Recycling Protocols Of Plastic Wastes To Eliminate ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Build a Microplastics‐Free Environment: Strategies for Microplastics Degradation and Plastics Recycling

et al. 2022

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Microplastics are an emergent yet critical issue for the environment because of high degradation resistance and bioaccumulation. Unfortunately, the current technologies to remove, recycle, or degrade microplastics are insufficient for complete elimination. In addition, the fragmentation and degradation of mismanaged plastic wastes in environment have recently been identified as a significant source of microplastics. Thus, the developments of effective microplastics removal methods, as well as, plastics recycling strategies are crucial to build a microplastics‐free environment. Herein, this review comprehensively summarizes the current technologies for eliminating microplastics from the environment and highlights two key aspects to achieve this goal: 1) Catalytic degradation of microplastics into environmentally friendly organics (carbon dioxide and water); 2) catalytic recycling and upcycling plastic wastes into monomers, fuels, and valorized chemicals. The mechanisms, catalysts, feasibility, and challenges of these methods are also discussed. Novel catalytic methods such as, photocatalysis, advanced oxidation process, and biotechnology are promising and eco‐friendly candidates to transform microplastics and plastic wastes into environmentally benign and valuable products. In the future, more effort is encouraged to develop eco‐friendly methods for the catalytic conversion of plastics into valuable products with high efficiency, high product selectivity, and low cost under mild conditions.

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Section: Rational Recycling Protocols Of Plastic Wastes To Eliminate ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Build a Microplastics‐Free Environment: Strategies for Microplastics Degradation and Plastics Recycling

et al. 2022

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“…[479] The thermolysis of PE in supercritical water produces oil, wax, and gas. [480] As most plastics have an oil-like composition and high oil-like calorific values, the waste-to-energy conversion by liquefaction and pyrolysis yields refinery feeds together with fuels, such as diesel and gasoline. [479,481] As the main components of post-consumer waste, PE and PP were dissolved in a light cycle oil of commercial fluid catalytic crackers to transform polyolefins into C5-C10 alkanes.…”

Section: Gasification Liquefaction and (Hydro)pyrolysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Closing the Carbon Loop in the Circular Plastics Economy

Schirmeister

Mülhaupt

2022

Macromol. Rapid Commun.

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Today, plastics are ubiquitous in everyday life, problem solvers of modern technologies, and crucial for sustainable development. Yet the surge in global demand for plastics of the growing world population has triggered a tidal wave of plastic debris in the environment. Moving from a linear to a zero‐waste and carbon‐neutral circular plastic economy is vital for the future of the planet. Taming the plastic waste flood requires closing the carbon loop through plastic reuse, mechanical and molecular recycling, carbon capture, and use of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. In the quest for eco‐friendly products, plastics do not need to be reinvented but tuned for reuse and recycling. Their full potential must be exploited regarding energy, resource, and eco‐efficiency, waste prevention, circular economy, climate change mitigation, and lowering environmental pollution. Biodegradation holds promise for composting and bio‐feedstock recovery, but it is neither the Holy Grail of circular plastics economy nor a panacea for plastic littering. As an alternative to mechanical downcycling, molecular recycling enables both closed‐loop recovery of virgin plastics and open‐loop valorization, producing hydrogen, fuels, refinery feeds, lubricants, chemicals, and carbonaceous materials. Closing the carbon loop does not create a Perpetuum Mobile and requires renewable energy to achieve sustainability.

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“…The largest segment of plastics produced is represented by thermoplastics (85%), of which the most common are polyolefins (polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP)) [ 6 ]. Today, polyolefins are among the most important and useful commodity plastic materials in the world and are used in many applications as bags, films, containers, toys, industrial wraps and films, pipes, gas pipes, electrical equipment (HDPE and LDPE) [ 7 , 8 ] and flowerpots, cables, pipes, food packaging and medical equipment (PP) [ 7 , 9 ]. These three materials together represent more than 50% of all produced plastic in the world [ 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was reported that the highest yield of oil product (79%) was determined at 530 °C, while the yield of the gas increased from 3% to 22% as the temperature increased from 500 °C to 550 °C [ 27 ]. In our previous work, where the degradation of virgin LDPE and colored HDPE waste in SCW was investigated, it was found that a long reaction time (240 min) and high reaction temperature (450 °C) produce less oil and more gas products [ 8 ]. Similar findings were also obtained in work by Jin et al, where virgin HDPE and HDPE waste (milk jugs, grocery bags) were degraded in SCW at temperatures up to 450 °C and reaction times from 0.5 min to 4 h [ 31 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The chemical compositions of the obtained oil phases was similar to gasoline and diesel fractions. The amount of solid residue after the degradation of PE waste varied from 0.1% to 20% depending on the inorganic additives contained in the individual polymer [ 8 , 31 ]. In addition, the catalytic SCW gasification of polyolefin plastics at 450 °C and 60 min was studied by Onwudili et al and and methane was reported to be the most abundant gas component in the resulting gas mixture [ 32 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chemical Recycling of Polyolefins Waste Materials Using Supercritical Water

et al. 2022

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In the following work, the hydrothermal degradation of polypropylene waste (PP) using supercritical water (SCW) has been studied. The procedure was carried out in a high-pressure, high-temperature batch reactor at 425 °C and 450 °C from 15 to 240 min. The results show a high yield of the oil (up to 95%) and gas (up to 20%) phases. The gained oil phase was composed of alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and alcohols. Alkanes and alcohols predominated at 425 °C and shorter reaction times, while the content of aromatic hydrocarbons sharply increased at higher temperatures and times. The higher heating values (HHVs) of oil phases were in the range of liquid fuel (diesel, gasoline, crude and fuel oil), and they were between 48 and 42 MJ/kg. The gas phase contained light hydrocarbons (C1–C6), where propane was the most represented component. The results for PP degradation obtained in the present work were compared to the results of SCW degradation of colored PE waste, and the potential degradation mechanism of polyolefins waste in SCW is proposed. The results allowed to conclude that SCW processing technology represents a promising and eco-friendly tool for the liquefaction of polyolefin (PE and PP) waste into oil with a high conversion rate.

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Hydrothermal decomposition of polyethylene waste to hydrocarbons rich oil

Cited by 43 publications

References 38 publications

How to Build a Microplastics‐Free Environment: Strategies for Microplastics Degradation and Plastics Recycling

How to Build a Microplastics‐Free Environment: Strategies for Microplastics Degradation and Plastics Recycling

Closing the Carbon Loop in the Circular Plastics Economy

Chemical Recycling of Polyolefins Waste Materials Using Supercritical Water

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