Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Determination of the Hazard of Plastic Waste for Investigation of the Possibility of Their Utilization by Thermal Methods

This study assessed the chemical hazards of plastic waste components to evaluate whether thermal treatment (such as incineration or pyrolysis) could safely process them. Understanding the toxic chemicals released during plastic waste disposal is important for minimizing environmental contamination from plastic waste management.

2021 Labour protection problems in Ukraine 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Waste plastic management: Recycling and the environmental health nexus

Researchers reviewed plastic recycling methods and their health and environmental trade-offs, finding that mechanical recycling releases microplastics that can enter the body through inhalation and ingestion, and calling for smarter waste management systems and reduced use of toxic plastic additives.

2024 Cleaner Materials 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Impacts Towards Plastic Waste by Using Pyrolysis

This study used life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impact of converting plastic waste into fuel through pyrolysis. The findings suggest pyrolysis can reduce plastic waste in landfills while generating usable energy, though careful emission management is required.

2023 International Journal of Advanced Natural Sciences and Engineering Researches 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Comprehensive Assessment of Thermochemical Processes for Sustainable Waste Management and Resource Recovery

This review evaluates thermochemical technologies such as pyrolysis, gasification, and liquefaction for converting waste materials, including plastics, into useful chemicals and fuels. Researchers compared the processes based on energy efficiency, product quality, and environmental impact. The study aims to guide the selection of the most appropriate waste-to-value technology for different materials as part of a circular economy approach.

2023 Processes 104 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Global trends of pyrolysis research: a bibliometric analysis

This systematic review maps global research trends in pyrolysis, a process that uses heat to break down waste materials. The findings are relevant to microplastic pollution because pyrolysis is being explored as a method to break down plastic waste, and understanding which approaches work best could help reduce the flow of microplastics into the environment.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Hazardous air pollutants from the waste incineration industry : formation mechanisms, distribution characteristics, and potential environmental risks

This study investigated how hazardous air pollutants including dioxins, furans, and heavy metals are formed and distributed during industrial waste incineration. While focused on incineration emissions rather than microplastics directly, waste incineration is relevant to plastic waste management and the broader question of how plastics should be disposed of.

2020 HKBU Institutional Repository (Hong Kong Baptist University)
Article Tier 2

Recovery of plastic waste through its thermochemical degradation: a review

This review examines pyrolysis as a promising technology for recovering valuable chemical compounds from plastic waste, which reached approximately 368 million tons of global production in 2020 alone. Researchers discuss how thermal and catalytic degradation can convert different types of thermoplastics into high-energy-value products. The study also highlights the environmental and health impacts of plastic accumulation, including the effects of microplastic consumption on human and animal health.

2023 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 11 citations
Article Tier 2

The manufacturing process and consequent occupational health and environmental risks associated with the use of plastic waste in construction bricks in small-scale recycling plants

Researchers reviewed health and environmental risks in small-scale facilities that recycle plastic waste into building bricks, finding that the manufacturing process likely releases microplastics, heavy metals, and toxic air pollutants, posing serious health hazards to workers — especially where safety measures are absent.

2024 Journal of Cleaner Production 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of microplastic during pyrolysis of sewage sludge

Researchers examined how pyrolysis as a sewage sludge treatment method affects the fate of embedded microplastics, finding that thermal treatment largely destroys plastic particles. However, some polymer-derived volatile compounds transferred to pyrolysis gases and oils, suggesting that microplastic destruction does not eliminate all associated chemical risks.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Optimisation of Process Parameters to Maximise the Oil Yield from Pyrolysis of Mixed Waste Plastics

Researchers optimized the process parameters for thermal pyrolysis of mixed waste plastics to maximize oil yield from HDPE, polypropylene, and polystyrene. The study used response surface methodology to identify ideal conditions for converting plastic waste into pyrolytic oil, supporting chemical recycling as a strategy to reduce plastic pollution.

2024 Sustainability 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of operating parameters on the yield of micro-plastics from plastics incineration.

Researchers studied how different incineration conditions affect the yield and type of microplastics produced when plastics are burned, finding that temperature and oxygen levels significantly influence the output. The findings raise concerns that incomplete incineration of plastic waste — a common disposal method globally — can generate and release microplastics rather than eliminating them.

2024 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

An Appropriate Technology Approach for Utilizing Plastic Waste Derived Cooking Fuel to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution from Solid Fuel Cooking

This study explored slow pyrolysis of plastic waste as an appropriate technology for communities in developing regions to produce cooking fuel from waste materials that would otherwise be mismanaged. The approach was assessed for feasibility, safety, and community adoption potential as a low-cost plastic waste valorization strategy.

2022 Academic Society for Appropriate Technology 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantification, characteristics, and distribution of microplastics released from waste burning furnaces and their associated health impacts

Researchers quantified microplastics released from waste burning furnaces in Indonesia, finding 41-77 fiber-type particles at sampling sites near each furnace, with an estimated 1.9-2.3 microplastics entering the human body via inhalation, highlighting an overlooked airborne exposure pathway.

2023 Environmental Quality Management 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Incorporating Health Impacts into the Circular Economy: A Comprehensive Assessment of Worker and Consumer Safety in the Plastic Production and Recycling Industries

This study assessed the health impacts on workers and consumers across circular economy strategies for plastics, finding that while recycling reduces environmental burden, it also introduces occupational and exposure risks that must be incorporated into circular economy assessments.

2023 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Perspectives on Thermochemical Recycling of End-of-Life Plastic Wastes to Alternative Fuels

This review examined thermochemical recycling technologies including pyrolysis, liquefaction, and gasification for converting plastic waste into clean fuels, discussing operating principles, barriers, and the potential for co-processing plastics with biomass.

2023 Materials 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Public Awareness Of Plastic Pollution And Perceived Risks To Human Health.

This study aims to assess public awareness of plastic pollution and its health impacts by surveying urban and semi-urban communities about their plastic use habits and self-reported health outcomes. Researchers plan to compare families using plastic food-contact materials with those using non-plastic alternatives to identify gaps in awareness and potential health differences linked to everyday plastic exposure.

2026
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review on the Thermochemical Treatment of Plastic Waste to Produce High Value Products for Different Applications

This review summarizes methods for converting plastic waste into valuable products using high-temperature chemical processes like pyrolysis and plasma technology. These approaches can produce hydrogen fuel, carbon nanotubes, and other useful materials from plastic that would otherwise become pollution. Reducing plastic waste through better recycling technology is important because most microplastic pollution originates from improperly managed plastic products.

2025 Materials Circular Economy 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Current plastics pollution threats due to COVID-19 and its possible mitigation techniques: a waste-to-energy conversion via Pyrolysis

Researchers reviewed how the COVID-19 pandemic generated massive amounts of plastic medical waste — including masks and gloves — and found that pyrolysis (heating plastic without oxygen) can convert this waste into usable oil, reducing plastic pollution. This waste-to-energy approach offers a practical path for managing the surge of single-use medical plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills or the environment as microplastics.

2021 ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH 161 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigating impact of physicochemical properties of microplastics on human health: A short bibliometric analysis and review

This review examined how the physical and chemical properties of microplastics influence their potential impacts on human health, noting that people are exposed through ingestion of contaminated food and water as well as inhalation of airborne particles. Researchers found that once ingested, microplastics can release hazardous chemicals in the digestive tract, while inhaled particles pose oxidative stress risks to the lungs. The study highlights that current air quality standards may not adequately account for suspended plastic particles.

2021 Chemosphere 114 citations
Article Tier 2

Methodology for integrating lumped kinetic models and decision-making frameworks to enhance sustainability of plastic waste pyrolysis

Researchers developed a multi-scale methodology linking laboratory pyrolysis kinetics to high-level sustainability decision-making, demonstrating that using pyrolysis gas for heat supply maximizes circularity while selling LPG byproducts yields the highest profit, offering a replicable framework for evaluating plastic waste conversion options.

2026 Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Review Tier 2

Plastic Waste Management Strategies and Their Environmental Aspects: A Scientometric Analysis and Comprehensive Review

This review analyzes plastic waste management strategies worldwide through a large-scale review of scientific literature. Among six approaches studied, using plastic waste in road construction and concrete production were found to be the most environmentally beneficial, while landfills remain the most harmful due to creating microplastic pollution and releasing toxic chemicals. The findings are relevant to human health because better waste management directly reduces the amount of microplastics entering the environment.

2022 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 206 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic Particle Emissions from Plastic Smoldering Combustion

Researchers conducted the first systematic study of nanoplastic particle emissions from smoldering plastic combustion, testing five common plastic types. They found that burning plastics at low temperatures produces significant quantities of airborne nanoplastic particles along with volatile organic compounds. The findings identify smoldering combustion, such as in open waste burning, as a previously uncharacterized source of atmospheric nanoplastic pollution.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic Waste Management towards Energy Recovery during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Example of Protective Face Mask Pyrolysis

Researchers analyzed the elemental composition and pyrolysis behavior of COVID-19 protective face masks, finding that pyrolysis at 400-900 degrees Celsius could effectively recover energy from pandemic-related plastic waste that overwhelmed conventional waste management systems.

2022 Energies 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Technologies for Waste Plastic Treatment

This review surveyed emerging technologies for waste plastic treatment including chemical recycling, pyrolysis, biodegradation, and catalytic conversion, evaluating their potential to address the growing plastic pollution crisis more effectively than conventional methods.

2023 ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 46 citations