| Abstract | Problem statement: Post-consumer and industrial wastes involving plastics quickly lose their physicochemical integrity and utility value, hence becoming a global environmental pollutant damaging the entire ecosystem. Heterogeneity and end value have hampered recycling; Only 9 % plastics is recycled globally, with Canada and US recycling 6 and 4 %, respectively. Conventional technologies such as incineration solves mass to volume waste problem but adds to pollution levels. Like other world economies, Canada and US diverts 82 and 73% plastic wastes to landfills. However, landfills have become pollution hubs due to soil and water leachates, and air pollution, thus the need for a paradigm shift to sustainable safe approaches to waste management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the hybrid conversion process of unsorted waste streams and non-hazardous reaction media to produce low carbon fuels (H₂) and materials (char and oil).
Method & Experimental procedure: Leveraging on superior water sub-and-supercritical properties, and the negation for the feedstock drying step, competitive hydrothermal conversion technology was investigated at different reaction conditions.
Results: Preliminary batch results revealed 0.041g H₂/g feed and 0.005g CH₄/g feed; 88.2 % char yield with improved thermal stability; up to 16.22% liquid yield containing high value components such as phenols, syringols, Guaiacol, cresols, etc.
Conclusions & Significance: Hybrid hydrothermal conversion addresses environmentally unsafe and challenging heterogenous wastes by converting them to green high value products in a circular economy model. Further studies on continuous scale, catalysis and various waste feedstocks are underway to fully optimize the operation parameters in preparation for future commercial adoption. |
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