Chemical Conversion of Plastic Waste into Fuel
The United Nations estimate that more than 8 million tons of plastics flow into the oceans each year. A new chemical conversion process could transform the world’s polyolefin waste, a form of plastic, into useful products, such as clean fuels and other items.
“Our strategy is to create a driving force for recycling by converting polyolefin waste into a wide range of valuable products, including polymers, naphtha (a mixture of hydrocarbons), or clean fuels,” said Linda Wang, the Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University, leads the research team developing this technology, along with research associates Kai Jin, a graduate student, and Wan-Ting (Grace) Chen, a postdoctoral researcher.
