“…The primary components found in the waste of COVID-19 plastics included polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). These cross-linked polymers in the plastic wastes do not melt during high-temperature pyrolysis; instead of melting, they produce valuable energy-bearing products including bio-oil-rich hydrocarbons, gases rich in hydrogen gas content, and charcoal (Dharmaraj et al 2021 ; Zhou et al 2021 ). The generation of lighter and thermodynamically stable hydrocarbons including aromatic hydrocarbons and C 1 –C 4 gases was triggered by higher pyrolysis temperatures (Fig.…”
Section: Mitigating the Negative Impacts Of The Pandemicmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…9 ). The resistance to thermal decomposition of three distinct plastic feedstocks was ranked as follows based on product yields and chemical composition: HDPE, PP, and PP with fillers, with the mineral filler, talc, acting as a catalyst and showing considerable cracking activity (Zhou et al 2021 ). Fig.…”
Section: Mitigating the Negative Impacts Of The Pandemicmentioning
The COVID-19 pandemic not only has caused a global health crisis but also has significant environmental consequences. Although many studies are confirming the short-term improvements in air quality in several countries across the world, the long-term negative consequences outweigh all the claimed positive impacts. As a result, this review highlights the positive and the long-term negative environmental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by evaluating the scientific literature. Remarkable reduction in the levels of CO (3 − 65%), NO
2
(17 − 83%), NO
x
(24 − 47%), PM
2.5
(22 − 78%), PM
10
(23 − 80%), and VOCs (25 − 57%) was observed during the lockdown across the world. However, according to this review, the pandemic put enormous strain on the present waste collection and treatment system, resulting in ineffective waste management practices, damaging the environment. The extensive usage of face masks increased the release of microplastics/nanoplastics (183 to 1247 particles piece
−1
) and organic pollutants in land and water bodies. Furthermore, the significant usages of anti-bacterial hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and pharmaceuticals have increased the accumulation of various toxic emerging contaminants (e.g., triclocarban, triclosan, bisphenol-A, hydroxychloroquine) in the treated sludge/biosolids and discharged wastewater effluent, posing great threats to the ecosystems. This review also suggests strategies to create long-term environmental advantages. Thermochemical conversions of solid wastes including medical wastes and for treated wastewater sludge/biosolids offer several advantages through recovering the resources and energy and stabilizing/destructing the toxins/contaminants and microplastics in the precursors.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-20259-1.
“…The primary components found in the waste of COVID-19 plastics included polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). These cross-linked polymers in the plastic wastes do not melt during high-temperature pyrolysis; instead of melting, they produce valuable energy-bearing products including bio-oil-rich hydrocarbons, gases rich in hydrogen gas content, and charcoal (Dharmaraj et al 2021 ; Zhou et al 2021 ). The generation of lighter and thermodynamically stable hydrocarbons including aromatic hydrocarbons and C 1 –C 4 gases was triggered by higher pyrolysis temperatures (Fig.…”
Section: Mitigating the Negative Impacts Of The Pandemicmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…9 ). The resistance to thermal decomposition of three distinct plastic feedstocks was ranked as follows based on product yields and chemical composition: HDPE, PP, and PP with fillers, with the mineral filler, talc, acting as a catalyst and showing considerable cracking activity (Zhou et al 2021 ). Fig.…”
Section: Mitigating the Negative Impacts Of The Pandemicmentioning
The COVID-19 pandemic not only has caused a global health crisis but also has significant environmental consequences. Although many studies are confirming the short-term improvements in air quality in several countries across the world, the long-term negative consequences outweigh all the claimed positive impacts. As a result, this review highlights the positive and the long-term negative environmental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by evaluating the scientific literature. Remarkable reduction in the levels of CO (3 − 65%), NO
2
(17 − 83%), NO
x
(24 − 47%), PM
2.5
(22 − 78%), PM
10
(23 − 80%), and VOCs (25 − 57%) was observed during the lockdown across the world. However, according to this review, the pandemic put enormous strain on the present waste collection and treatment system, resulting in ineffective waste management practices, damaging the environment. The extensive usage of face masks increased the release of microplastics/nanoplastics (183 to 1247 particles piece
−1
) and organic pollutants in land and water bodies. Furthermore, the significant usages of anti-bacterial hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and pharmaceuticals have increased the accumulation of various toxic emerging contaminants (e.g., triclocarban, triclosan, bisphenol-A, hydroxychloroquine) in the treated sludge/biosolids and discharged wastewater effluent, posing great threats to the ecosystems. This review also suggests strategies to create long-term environmental advantages. Thermochemical conversions of solid wastes including medical wastes and for treated wastewater sludge/biosolids offer several advantages through recovering the resources and energy and stabilizing/destructing the toxins/contaminants and microplastics in the precursors.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-20259-1.
“…Additionally, continuous processing and cofeeding of biomass can be applied to microwave-assisted conversion of plastics. Zhou et al 920 reported a continuous microwaveassisted pyrolysis system which can convert HDPE and PP to gasoline-range hydrocarbons rich in aromatic hydrocarbons. The system consists of microwave heating with a SiC mixing-ball-bed and a secondary catalyst bed with ZSM-5 and can process up to 10 kg of plastics an hour with 89.6% energy efficiency.…”
Less than 10% of the plastics generated globally are recycled, while the rest are incinerated, accumulated in landfills, or leach into the environment. New technologies are emerging to chemically recycle waste plastics that are receiving tremendous interest from academia and industry. Chemists and chemical engineers need to understand the fundamentals of these technologies to design improved systems for chemical recycling and upcycling of waste plastics. In this paper, we review the entire life cycle of plastics and options for the management of plastic waste to address barriers to industrial chemical recycling and further provide perceptions on possible opportunities with such materials. Knowledge and insights to enhance plastic recycling beyond its current scale are provided. Outstanding research problems and where researchers in the field should focus their efforts in the future are also discussed.
“…MAP of plastic wastes has emerged as a promising chemical method to displace waste plastic and generating fuels suitable to produce energy and chemical products. Several parameters such as the plastic origin and its composition, temperature, reaction time, MW power, MW absorber and eventually the catalyst present and its composition has been reported in the literature in different reviews during the last years [3,7,8]. The catalyst, if present, rapidly loses its activity due to the formation of char on its surface.…”
Section: Update On Map Of Plastic Wastementioning
confidence: 99%
“…Zou et al [30] in 2021 reported the pyrolysis of plastic wastes with SiC as an MW absorber and it is a new, continuous MAP process for fuel production. Higher pyrolysis temperatures promoted the cracking of wax and lighter and more stable hydrocarbons were formed.…”
A single type of thermoplastic polymer is easily recycled through a mechanical process, but this way can’t be followed in the presence of mixed or contaminated plastic. In this case, one of the main followed solutions is a thermochemical process and among them, microwave-assisted pyrolysis is one of the emerging technologies. This chapter offers an update of the microwave-assisted pyrolysis of mixed or contaminated waste plastic as a very promising example of chemical recycling. Furthermore, some unpublished results in this field will be reported such as the pyrolysis of waste lead containing polyethylene coming from end cycle batteries or the pyrolysis of waste polypropylene from facemasks used for covid protection. Finally, some examples of pilot plants will be described and commented as well as several industrial cooperations.
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