New Plastic Upcycling Technology

Recently, a team of researchers has developed a breakthrough upcycling process that can help transform polyethylene (PE) - the most widely used plastic in the world - into polypropylene (PP), which is one of the top five most common plastic types in the world.

Key Points

• Proof-of-concept: The researchers developed a proof-of-concept for upcycling PE plastic - a reactor that creates a flow of propylene, which can be turned into PP using current technology. The reactor does this by cutting PE molecules many times into small pieces of propylene molecules.
• Process: The process begins when a catalyst removes hydrogen from ....