Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered a method of plastics upcycling—transforming discarded products into new, high-value materials of better quality and environmental value—that could economically incentivize the recycling of waste plastics and help solve one of the world’s most looming pollution problems.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered a method of plastics upcycling—transforming discarded products into new, high-value materials of better quality and environmental value—that could economically incentivize the recycling of waste plastics and help solve one of the world’s most looming pollution problems.
Published in Joule, “Combining reclaimed PET with bio-based monomers enables plastics upcycling,” describes how the NREL team chemically combined reclaimed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, in the form of single-use beverage bottles, with bio-based compounds to produce higher-value fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) that can be used in products from snowboards to vehicle parts to wind turbines. Not only are the resulting composites worth more than double the original PET, the FRPs exhibit twice the strength and improved adhesion to fiberglass when compared to the standard petroleum-derived FRP.
“Most recycling today is downcycling—there’s very little financial motivation,” said NREL Senior Research Fellow Gregg Beckham, one of the primary authors of the paper. “Knowing that 26 million tons of PET are produced each year but only 30% of PET bottles are recycled in the United States, our findings represent a significant advancement in enabling the circular materials economy.”
Read more at DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Image: NREL Senior Research Fellow Gregg Beckham and Materials Scientist Nic Rorrer are working on a process of upcycling: breaking down PET in existing waste and combining it with compounds derived from biomass to make something more valuable, such as fiber-reinforced composite materials. (Photo by Dennis Schroeder / NREL)
