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Chemical Recycling of Plastics by Microwave‐Assisted High‐Temperature Pyrolysis
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Researchers developed a microwave-assisted high-temperature pyrolysis method that continuously breaks down mixed plastic waste and plant oil into useful chemicals like ethylene and propylene. This chemical recycling approach could help divert plastic waste from the environment while producing renewable building blocks for new materials.
Abstract Use of plastics faces much criticism because of its shocking and increasing impact on the environment. But banning plastic will not help the environment. Only appropriate recycling of plastic waste can give satisfying solution. A lab‐scale chemical recycling method, in which a mixture of plastic wastes and plant oil is continuously cracked into ethylene, propylene, and other useful chemicals by using microwave‐assisted high‐temperature pyrolysis, is developed. The method has delivered interesting leads that provide the basis for setting up a new process. Based on the encouraging results, a “drop‐in” method for a renewable and circular polymer industry is also proposed. If it is commercially realized, plastic waste and plant oils will be the feedstock for the polymer industry and this industry will become renewable and circular.
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Researchers review how microwave-assisted heterogeneous catalysis can rapidly and energy-efficiently convert waste plastics into fuels, monomers, and commodity chemicals, offering a promising chemical upcycling pathway to recover value from plastic waste.
Microwave-Assisted Catalytic Pyrolysis of Waste Plastics for High-Value Resource Recovery: A Comprehensive Review
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Pyrolysis of Mixed Plastic Waste
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Researchers demonstrated that using induction heating — a fast, energy-efficient method — with catalysts can fully break down polyethylene and polypropylene plastics within 10 minutes, converting them into useful gases and liquid chemicals, offering a more economically viable recycling pathway than conventional plastic pyrolysis.
Recent advances in chemical recycling and upcycling of plastic waste into valuable materials, chemicals, and energy: a comprehensive review
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A comprehensive review cataloged advanced chemical recycling and upcycling pathways—including pyrolysis, gasification, hydrocracking, and solvolysis—capable of transforming mixed plastic waste streams into circular high-value chemicals, fuels, and energy carriers. These technologies are directly relevant to microplastic pollution research because scaling chemical recycling reduces the volume of plastic that degrades into environmental microplastics, addressing the problem at the source.
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