Plastic-to-Hydrogen

Mixed plastic waste is nearly impossible to recycle, with billions of tons choking landfills and incinerators worldwide. Now scientists in California and South Korea have developed a unique, experimental method to manage this problematic stream, converting the trash into clean hydrogen while trapping carbon before it is released to the air.

The competitive edge comes from the use of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a catalyst, which rapidly breaks down plastics requiring almost no sorting while boosting hydrogen yield, at half the operating temperature of conventional gasification. Study co-author Woo-Jae Kim, a professor at Ewha Womans University, believes the one-step thermal technology could achieve a $4-per-kilogram hydrogen cost, in line with North American subsidized rates for green hydrogen.

The team puts the same plastic-busting NaOH to work on a second task, capturing the CO2 released during the reaction and turning it into stable, solid sodium carbonate. At the end of the process, the remaining outputs are sodium carbonate with industrial applications and high-purity hydrogen at over 90% purity, and the method effectively handles polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, polystyrene, bioplastics, and food-contaminated plastics as well as paper packaging and biomass.

Learn More:

• Greenfuels (Germany)
• KleanFuels (Canada)
• Low-Carbon Marine Fuel (Malta)
• Plastics-to-Energy (USA)
• Independent Oil Producer (Thailand)
• Recycled PP Speakers (Japan)
• SPR (Japan)
• Pyrolysis and Gasification Consulting

Recover Value from Mixed Plastic Waste

With a new process recovering over 90%-pure hydrogen from unsorted plastic at a projected $4 per kilogram, waste that once went to landfill is becoming a clean-energy feedstock.

Klean Industries delivers turn-key EPC and feasibility studies, and its plastic-pyrolysis technology operates at the Greenfuels facility in Germany.

Ready to turn plastic waste into value?

Contact Klean Industries about plastic pyrolysis and waste-to-energy » GO.