Less than 10% of the 36 million tons of plastics generated in the U.S. in 2018 (the most recent year reported) were recycled while 27 million tons wound up in landfills. A promising approach could make it easier to turn petroleum-based plastic waste into chemicals usable to produce new materials and fuels. The method, making it possible to “upcycle” plastics into more valuable products, focuses on increasing the efficiency of the desired chemical conversion. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists are developing novel catalysts that speed up the chemical reactions while using a smaller amount of a precious metal than other catalysts. And their method also generates less greenhouse gas as a byproduct.
www.pnnl.gov/news-media/pnnl-advances-science-convert-plastics-fuels