Sustainability-inspired upcycling of waste polyethylene terephthalate plastic into porous carbon for CO₂ capture

Abstract

Industrial-scale upcycling of waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic into porous carbon globally for CO2 capture was verified as a multifunctional alternative to conventional CO2 absorption and plastic waste management technologies.

Plastic Waste Valorization by Leveraging Multidisciplinary Catalytic Technologies

“…In addition to polymers, plastic waste can be used as a feedstock for preparing various functional materials, such as carbon materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), and energy storage materials. Because of their high carbon content, waste plastics have been extensively studied for manufacturing of functional carbon materials used in lithium (sulfur) batteries, , pseudocapacitance, and gas adsorption, as summarized in Table . In contrast to traditional pyrolysis, new technologies have been developed for the rapid preparation of high-quality carbon materials (Figure a).…”

Sustainable management of plastic wastes in COVID-19 pandemic: The biochar solution

“…Plastic variants like polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene are the targeted petrochemical polymers that can serve as the feedstock for fuel production. PET has been successfully valorized into porous carbons for carbon capture, demonstrating one closed carbon loop ( Yuan et al, 2020a , 2020b , 2022 ; Wang et al, 2020a ). It suggests that PET plastic-derived porous carbons could be beneficial for mitigating CO 2 emissions from large point sources like industries, achieving the closed plastic and carbon loops ( Rahimi and Garci á, 2017 ).…”

“…It suggests that PET plastic-derived porous carbons could be beneficial for mitigating CO 2 emissions from large point sources like industries, achieving the closed plastic and carbon loops ( Rahimi and Garci á, 2017 ). Moreover, due to the environmental benefits and economic feasibility of converting the industrial-scale waste PET plastic into porous carbons for CO 2 adsorption, Yuan et al (2022) highlighted its potential as a multifunctional alternative to conventional CO 2 absorption and plastic waste management technologies.…”

“… Yuan et al ( Yuan et al, 2020b ) PET Carbonization followed by one-pot modification CO 2 capture : PET6KN one-pot , prepared by KOH activation and urea treatment in a one-pot synthesis at 700 °C, displayed excellent CO 2 uptakes of 6.23 mmol/g at 0 °C and 4.58 mmol/g at 25 °C (1 bar), which is beneficial to achieve the sustainable waste management and mitigate both plastic pollution and climate change, simultaneously. Yuan et al ( Yuan et al, 2022 ) PET Carbonization followed by CO 2 physical activation, KOH chemical activation, or KOH/Urea activation CO 2 capture: PET6-CO 2 -9, activated in CO 2 atmosphere, showed excellent CO 2 uptakes of 6.25 mmol/g at 0 °C and 3.63 mmol/g at 25 °C (1 bar). Based on techno-economic and life-cycle assessments of the scaled-up industrial processes, authors showed that the physical CO 2 activation approach performs the best in the reduction of carbon emissions, providing the possibility for carbon neutrality while exhibiting financial viability (net present value of at least €19.22 million over the operating life of the project), which could be considered as a multifunctional alternative to conventional CO 2 absorption and plastic waste management technologies.…”

Exhaust Gas Recirculation on a Nano-Coated Combustion Chamber of a Diesel Engine Fueled with Waste Plastic Oil

“…In line with the raised questions, few studies exist in the literature; many have explored the use of alternative liquid fuels (including biofuels and waste-derived fuels) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in CI engines [12][13][14][15][16][17]. Among the many waste-derived fuels, waste plastic oil (WPO) is one that is widely proposed for CI engines in literature even after witnessing net-zero energy options for industrial systems and high-valued waste-plastic derived porous carbons [18]. This is because of the need to attain equilibrium between the circularity of resources and consumers' needs, and it is a liquid fuel in this context.…”