Plastogaz, a Swiss plastic recycling startup founded in 2019, develops plastic hydrocracking technology that uses hydrogen gas and ruthenium-modified zeolite catalyst to convert plastic waste into methane and valuable liquid fuels.
Challenges: plastic recycling
Plastic waste is a major environmental challenge, with over 450 million tons produced in 2019, and more than 350 million tons turning into waste. Most of this waste ends up in landfills or is incinerated, while only a small portion is recycled. This situation underscores the urgent need for effective recycling solutions. Technologies like gasification and pyrolysis offer potential methods for recycling plastics.
The gasification process involves reacting plastic waste with a gasifying agent, such as steam, oxygen, or air, at high temperatures between 500 ºC and 1300 ºC. This reaction produces synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and other hydrocarbons. Gasification can handle a wide variety of plastic types, including mixed and contaminated plastics, making it a versatile solution for plastic waste management. However, challenges like tar formation and the requirement for advanced gas cleaning systems necessitate further research and development.
Pyrolysis is a process that heats plastic waste to high temperatures, typically between 400 ºC and 600 ºC, without oxygen. This thermal degradation breaks down long-chain polymers into smaller molecules, producing a mixture of liquid, gaseous, and solid products, such as pyrolysis oil, syngas, and char. It is increasingly recognized as an alternative method for managing plastic waste, particularly for types that are challenging to recycle through conventional methods. However, further research and technological advancements are necessary to enhance its efficiency, product quality, and economic viability.
Plastogaz Technology
Plastogaz has developed a hydrocracking technology for recycling plastic waste, which requires less energy and results in fewer undesirable by-products.
This process uses hydrogen and a catalyst to break down complex plastic polymers into smaller, more useful hydrocarbon molecules, typically at lower temperatures (300–350 ºC) compared to gasification and pyrolysis. Hydrocracking offers better control over chemical reactions than processes like pyrolysis. By adjusting the process conditions and catalyst composition, the yield and quality of the resulting products can be optimized.
Plastogaz has developed a ruthenium-modified zeolite catalyst that effectively catalyzes the hydrocracking of plastics, producing methane gas and valuable liquid fuels such as alkanes (e.g., paraffins, isoparaffins, n-hexane), cycloalkanes (e.g., cyclohexane and methylcyclohexane), alkenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., naphtha). This technology can process mixed plastic waste streams, which often contain various types of plastics. This versatility is essential for enhancing recycling rates and managing diverse waste streams that are typically difficult to recycle using conventional mechanical methods.
How Plastogaz converts plastic to fuels
The diagram below depicts Plastogaz’s plastic hydrocracking process.
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