Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a technique to transform low-value waste plastic into high-value chemicals, potentially revolutionizing the recycling industry.
The new method converts waste plastic into pyrolysis oil, which contains valuable olefins used in various industries.
The world is awash in waste plastic. Wind blows it across everyone’s property. Its value is so low that no good program exists to drive the recycling effort past 10%. The new method, described in the Aug. 11, 2023 issue of the journal Science, could increase the economic incentives for plastic recycling and open a door to recycling new types of plastic.
In current energy-intensive processes like steam cracking, chemical manufacturers produce olefins by subjecting petroleum to extremely high heat and pressure. In this new process, the UW-Madison team recovers olefins from pyrolysis oil and uses them in a much less energy-intensive chemical process called homogenous hydroformylation catalysis. This process converts olefins into aldehydes, which can then be further reduced into important industrial alcohols.
“We’re really excited about the implications of this technology,” said Huber, who also directs the Department of Energy-funded Center for the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics. “It’s a platform technology to upgrade plastic waste using hydroformylation chemistry.” Huber noted the study was a collaborative effort across a few different UW-Madison departments. Clark Landis, chair of the Department of Chemistry and a world expert on hydroformylation, suggested the possibility of applying the technique to pyrolysis oils. Chemical and biological engineering Professor Manos Mavarikakis used advanced modeling to provide molecular-level insight into the chemical processes.
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