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Assessing the feasibility of ocean plastic waste as secondary feedstock for the production of base chemicals
Summary
Scientists found a way to break down ocean plastic waste (instead of just burning it) into useful chemical building blocks that could be turned into new plastics or products, offering a potential recycling solution for the plastic clogging our oceans. However, the process only works well if the plastic is first cleaned up, since researchers detected contaminants like heavy metals and chlorine mixed in with the ocean debris that could cause problems if not removed. This matters because finding practical ways to reuse ocean plastic could help reduce the amount of plastic waste breaking down into microplastics in marine environments and our food chain.
Plastic pollution in the marine environment is a growing concern, with around 10 % of globally produced plastics ending up in oceans annually. Most ocean plastics are incinerated for energy recovery if harvested, since harvesting remains a key challenge. This study evaluated the feasibility of recovering base chemicals from the polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) fraction of ocean plastic waste through a single-step olefin production method. The approach employed a micropyrolyzer unit coupled with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (µP-GC × GC) and dual detectors to analyze gaseous product yields. Elemental and matrix analyses of the waste were performed using CHNS/O elemental analysis, Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and Combustion Ion Chromatography (CIC) to identify potentially harmful components. We present here the yields of critical light olefins such as ethylene (13 wt% from PE samples, 9 wt% from PP samples) and propylene (10 wt% from PE samples, 17 wt% from PP samples) at 700 °C. Pyrolysis products detected in PP samples included 24 wt% of branched olefins, whereas 54 wt% of linear olefins were detected in PE samples. The aromatics detected in the samples ranged between 1-3 wt%, with naphthene levels ranging between 4-7 wt%. Furthermore, metal contaminants, such asnickel, silicon, copper, iron, sodium, calcium, and potassium, were detected from the waste via ICP-OES, and chlorine levels via CIC. The results suggest that ocean plastic waste could serve as feedstock for production of light olefins, provided pre- and post-treatment procedures are implemented to mitigate contamination.