Creating environmentally friendly chemicals and improving waste management practices stand to enhance overall sustainability. This study focuses on how to effectively utilize green hydrogen in waste management through the use of catalysts. It employs minimal amounts of solvents that not only serve as hydrogen sources but also help decompose a particular type of plastics known as condensation polymers. These include polyethylene terephthalate (PET) found in bottles, packaging materials, textiles, and 3D printing applications.
Microplastics, which are tiny plastics measuring less than 5 millimeters, are dispersed all over the planet, contributing to climate change, disrupting food chains, and damaging ecosystems with harmful chemicals. This is the reason Dr. Manish Shetty is focused on disintegrating plastics before they enter the environment.
The aim of creating sustainable chemicals and enhancing waste management significantly contributes to overall sustainability efforts. This research seeks to provide accessible green hydrogen for waste management with the help of catalysts.
Dr. Shetty’s work utilizes small amounts of solvents that also serve as hydrogen sources to decompose a specific type of plastics labeled as condensation polymers, including those PET bottles, packagings, textiles, and materials utilized in 3D printing.
In Shetty’s words, “What we have accomplished in this research is the breakdown of condensation polymers into aromatic compounds that can serve as fuels. We employ liquid organic hydrogen carriers, organic compounds that store hydrogen, utilizing that hydrogen to dismantle the polymers.”
Shetty and his team successfully created catalysts that can capture the released hydrogen from the breakdown of condensation polymers, as detailed in Shetty’s recent publication in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
This research demonstrates how the surface of the catalysts harnesses hydrogen released from these organic carriers to convert PET into p-xylene, a molecule that is applicable in fuels or as a chemical. Shetty notes that his findings provide not just a solution for waste management but also play a vital role in ensuring the chemical industry’s sustainability.
“We have formulated a solution addressing sustainability and waste management through these catalysts,” Shetty stated. “These organic molecules facilitate the transportation of hydrogen from its production site to where it’s needed for waste management, particularly in urban areas where a vast amount of waste accumulates.”
The approach taken in this research employs methanol for breaking down PET into smaller pieces while also serving as a hydrogen source to create p-xylene from PET, which can be utilized as either a chemical or fuel, according to the study.
Shetty is optimistic that the findings of this research could shift our economy away from its dependence on fossil fuels.
“One potential outcome is that as hydrogen becomes more accessible, especially green hydrogen generated through water electrolysis, we will need hydrogen carriers as a means of transportation,” Shetty explained. “One practical application would be in waste management and its valorization.”
