Read the full story at Recycling Today.
Producing new plastic using chemical or advanced recycling of postuse plastic (PUP) instead of fossil-based production can reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and increase the U.S. recycling rate, according to research by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory that was supported by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Washington. The peer-reviewed life cycle analysis study appears in the November 2023 issue of Journal of Cleaner Production.
This is the first analysis of multiple U.S. facilities taking PUP all the way to new plastics, according to Argonne. Specifically, the new plastics are low-density and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE), and the recycling process used is pyrolysis, whereby plastics are heated to high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment. The main product is pyrolysis oil, a liquid mix of various compounds that can be an ingredient in new plastic. The oil can replace fossil ingredients like naphtha and gases to manufacture ethylene and propylene, which are two monomers, or building blocks, for plastic production, the lab explains.
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