Turning waste from the environment into valuable chemical resources might help tackle the pressing issues of increasing plastic, paper, and food waste, as highlighted by recent research.
Turning waste from the environment into valuable chemical resources might help tackle the pressing issues of increasing plastic, paper, and food waste, as highlighted by recent research.
Researchers from The Ohio State University have achieved a pivotal advancement by creating a technology to convert materials such as plastics and agricultural refuse into syngas. This gas is primarily utilized to manufacture chemicals and fuels, including formaldehyde and methanol.
Through simulations assessing the efficiency of the system in breaking down waste, the scientists discovered that their method, termed chemical looping, can generate high-quality syngas more effectively than other comparable chemical processes. This improved technique is not only energy-efficient but also more environmentally friendly, according to Ishani Karki Kudva, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State.
“We use syngas to produce essential chemicals that are vital to our everyday lives,” noted Kudva. “By enhancing its purity, we can explore many new applications for it.”
Currently, most industrial methods produce syngas with about 80 to 85% purity, but the team managed to attain approximately 90% purity in a process that takes just a few minutes.
This research builds upon decades of foundational studies at Ohio State, directed by Liang-Shih Fan, a distinguished university professor in the field who guided this work. Previous explorations employed chemical looping technology to convert fossil fuels, sewer gas, and coal into hydrogen, syngas, and other beneficial products.
The new system involves two reactors: a moving bed reducer that decomposes waste using oxygen derived from a metal oxide, and a fluidized bed combustor that replenishes the lost oxygen to regenerate the material. Results indicated that with this waste-to-fuel system, the reactors could operate up to 45% more efficiently and generate around 10% cleaner syngas compared to traditional methods.
The findings of this research were recently published in the journal Energy and Fuels.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. produced 35.7 million tons of plastics in 2018, with approximately 12.2% classified as municipal solid waste, including plastic containers, bags, appliances, furniture, agricultural waste, paper, and food.
Unfortunately, due to their resistance to decomposition, plastics can remain in the environment for extended periods and are challenging to fully break down and recycle. Traditional waste management practices, like landfilling and incineration, also pose environmental hazards.
The researchers are now proposing an alternative strategy to mitigate pollution. Their findings suggest that their system could potentially lower carbon emissions by up to 45% in comparison to standard processes.
According to Shekhar Shinde, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State, their project is just a part of the broader movement in the chemical industry focused on developing sustainable solutions.
This particular research could significantly lessen society’s reliance on fossil fuels.
“There has been a notable shift in decarbonization research, moving away from previous methodologies,” Shinde commented.
While earlier technologies could only process biomass waste and plastics separately, this innovative approach can manage multiple material types concurrently, adjusting the necessary conditions for their conversion, as highlighted in the study.
As the team’s simulations continue to deliver more insights, they plan to eventually assess the market potential of the system with longer-duration experiments involving various additional components.
“Expanding the system to incorporate municipal solid waste from recycling facilities is our next focal point,” said Kudva. “We are still progressing in the lab towards commercializing this technology and reducing carbon footprints in the industry.”
Other co-authors from Ohio State include Rushikesh K. Joshi, Tanay A. Jawdekar, Sudeshna Gun, Sonu Kumar, Ashin A Sunny, Darien Kulchytsky, and Zhuo Cheng. The study received support from Buckeye Precious Plastic.
