Plastic is not biodegradable, and it takes years to break down. Plastic recycling has several environmental benefits, like recycling requires 88% less energy than making plastics from raw materials. Renew ELP is setting up a plastics recycling plant in Teesside, England, using hydrothermal upgrading technology. Here is some important information on the latest trend in plastic recycling using hydrothermal upgrading.
Why does Plastic Recycling Technology Needs an Upgrade?
The world is witnessing an increase in the consumption of plastic goods from virgin feedstock without clear recycling policies. The rise in global warming and increasing pollution of land and sea due to plastics is a primary environmental concern for all countries.
Renew ELP, a company in the UK has begun construction of the world’s first commercial plastic recycling plant based on hydrothermal upgrading. The reason to opt for a Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling System is that it can convert a variety of low-value feedstock, including mixed composite polymer streams, into high-grade oils and chemicals. Additionally, the carbon footprint of hydrothermal upgrading is also low. Read more about Craigslist Ames Top Services you must know.
The company has already invested AUD 75(CAD 70) million into developing and testing this new plastic recycling technology at a plant in South Wales, Australia. Recycling technology has extensively been trialed and upscale in the last decade.
What Is Hydrothermal Upgrading?
Hydrothermal upgrading uses water in a supercritical state. It breaks down the polymeric structure of plastic feedstock. The recycling process harvests hydrogen from the water to create new stable hydrocarbons and produces several stable products in the process that can be easily stored and shipped. Many of the products obtained in the recycling process are of equivalence to existing chemical products.
The company has also mentioned that high-yield monomers and high-value compounds are suitable for fuel and chemical applications.
Benefits of Hydrocarbon Upgrading Recycling
Can Recycle Contaminated Plastics:
Experts believe that the hydrocarbon upgrading method can be used as a supplementary process for traditional recycling. The company states that they can mix a variety of plastics in the recycling process.
Even the contaminated plastics that cannot be recycled with traditional recycling processes can be recycled with this new technology. Currently, most of the contaminated plastics end up in landfills. The Hydrocarbon upgrading recycling method enables the polymer to retain its value and continually recycle it.
Mixed Recycling:
Hydrocarbon upgrading recycling allows recycling companies to process and recycles various materials together. For example, you can process multi-layer rigid and flexible plastics and mixed composite polymers. The recycling process can also handle the contamination of plastic material with non-plastics
ClosedLoop Recycling:
Closed-loop recycling refers to the process where the recycled material can be used to create material of the same type without losing any properties. Very few plastic segments can achieve closed-loop recycling. Secondary recycling of plastics, which involves inferior qualities of plastics, generally results in the production of black plastic. Plastic waste management is a huge problem due to these factors.
Hydrocarbon upgrading converts plastic resins into oils and basic chemicals. The thermal environment provided by the technology can decompose recalcitrant polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene.
As a result, many believe that hydrocarbon upgrading can be an environmentally friendly technology that can help recycle a large number of plastics safely.
