Towards a Plastic Circular Economy: Bio-derived Plastics and their End-of-life Strategies

Abstract

Herein, we describe the status of bio-derived plastics as well as the existing and emerging technologies that are available for their post-consumer end-of-life valorization. We first present how bio-derived plastics can be produced from renewable materials such as biomass and CO2. In the second section, we present an overview of the technologies available for the end-of-life, including pyrolysis and gasification and how they can be leveraged towards a circular economy. We continue the discussion with the presentation of an emerging technology, polyolefin hydrocracking. Finally, the concepts are discussed in light of life cycle analysis that helps to assess the sustainability of manufacture (and recycling) methods.

Application of a Novel Chemical Assay for the Quantification of Endotoxins in Bacterial Bioreactor Samples

“…Examples include polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) [4] and polylactic acids (PLA) [5]. They are used for the preparation of biodegradable medical products such as bioresorbable stents [6]. Almost all Gram-negative bacteria produce endotoxins (ETs) [7][8][9].…”

Valorization of Polypropylene Waste in the Production of New Materials with Adequate Mechanical and Thermal Properties for Environmental Protection

“…This challenge will help to reduce the generation of plastic waste, poverty, and gender inequality, and to develop sustainable cities. Examples of the applied circular economy concept are related to food waste [ 5 ], plastic packaging [ 6 , 7 ], pyrolysis and gasification [ 8 ], the converting of plastic waste into road construction materials [ 9 ], etc.…”

A Semi‐Serendipitous Journey towards the Commercialisation of a Catalytic Hydrocracking Process for Polymer Waste

“…The production of chemicals and fuels from alternative nonfossil sources is the corner stone of a society working towards circularity. The most studied alternative feedstocks to crude oil include bio-polymers (i. e., cellulose, hemicellulose, [1] lignin [2] and chitin [3,4] ) and waste materials (i. e., used cooking oils, [5] CO 2 [6] and synthetic-polymers [7,8] ). For many years our group has focused on the development of new approaches for the transformation of biomass and CO 2 into value added products, employing various types of catalysts spanning ionic liquids (ILs), homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts (see Figure 1 for conceptual overview).…”