Transforming Mixed Plastic into Functional Chemicals

Approximately 80% of plastic in the waste stream either ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment. Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a technology that can convert a mixture of plastic waste, which was previously considered unrecyclable, into useful chemicals. This breakthrough presents a new approach in the fight against global plastic waste.

The technology, created by Tomonori Saito and former postdoctoral researcher Md Arifuzzaman from ORNL, utilizes an extremely efficient organocatalyst that enables the selective breakdown of various plastics, including a mixture of different consumer plastics. Arifuzzaman, who is now with Re-Du, is currently an Innovation Crossroads fellow.

The production of chemicals from plastic waste requires less energy and emits fewer greenhouse gases compared to traditional petroleum-based production methods. This pathway represents a crucial step towards achieving a net-zero society, according to the scientists.

Saito, the corresponding author of the study, stated, “This concept offers highly efficient and low-carbon chemical recycling of plastics and presents a promising strategy towards establishing closed-loop circularity of plastics.”

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