Techno‐Economic Comparison of Bio‐Cycling Processes for Mixed Plastic Waste Valorization

Abstract

Mixed plastic waste is challenging for any recycling process. Here, an enzymatic recycling process is compared with a biotechnological upcycling process for valorizing mixed plastic waste constituted by PLA, PET, and PP. Both process routes are modeled in Aspen Plus, analyzed for bottlenecks, cost drivers, and sensitivity regarding enzymatic and microbial performance. While enzymatic recycling is only viable for uniform plastic feedstock, biotechnological upcycling operating at optimized process conditions reveals the potential to produce carbon-neutral succinic acid from mixed plastic waste.