Plastic packaging typically consists of a mixture of polymers and contains a whole range of components, such as paper, organic residue, halogens, and metals, which pose problems during recycling. Nevertheless, until today, limited detailed data are available on the full polymer composition of plastic packaging waste taking into account the separable packaging parts present in a certain waste stream, nor on their quantitative levels of (elemental) impurities. This paper therefore presents an unprecedented in-depth analysis of the polymer and elemental composition, including C, H, N, S, O, metals, and halogens, of commonly generated plastic packaging waste streams in European sorting facilities. Various analytical techniques are applied, including Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy, ion chromatography, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), on more than 100 different plastic packaging products, which are all separated into their different packaging subcomponents (e.g., a bottle into the bottle itself, the cap, and the label). Our results show that certain waste streams consist of mixtures of up to nine different polymers and contain various elements of the periodic table, in particular metals such as Ca, Al, Na, Zn, and Fe and halogens like Cl and F, occurring in concentrations between 1 and 3000 ppm. As discussed in the paper, both polymer and elemental impurities impede in many cases closed-loop recycling and require advanced pretreatment steps, increasing the overall recycling cost.

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8677567/file/8679171.pdf

Detailed Analysis of the Composition of Selected Plastic Packaging Waste Products and Its Implications for Mechanical and Thermochemical Recycling.

This review collects a wide range of initiatives and results that expose the potential of the refineries to be converted into waste refineries. Thus, they will use their current units for the valor...

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Recycling of post-consumer plastic packaging waste in the EU: Recovery rates, material flows, and barriers.

Thermochemical Recycling of Waste Plastics by Pyrolysis: A Review

Electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) can achieve catalytic hydrogenation at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure with only a small potential applied between the cathode and the anode. The m...

Minireview on Bio-Oil Upgrading via Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation: Connecting Biofuel Production with Renewable Power

Characterization of post-consumer plastic film waste from mixed MSW in Spain: A key point for the successful implementation of sustainable plastic waste management strategies.

The liquids resulting from pyrolysis of industrial plastic waste (IPW) and postconsumer colored and white plastic film waste (PCPW and PWPW, respectively) at the pilot scale (80 kg/h) were widely c...

/pdf/characterization-and-distillation-of-pyrolysis-liquids-k25utq39gy.pdf

Marta Guerrero

Papers

Characterization of post-consumer plastic film waste from mixed MSW in Spain: A key point for the successful implementation of sustainable plastic waste management strategies.

Characterization and Distillation of Pyrolysis Liquids Coming from Polyolefins Segregated of MSW for Their Use as Automotive Diesel Fuel

Simulation-assisted design of a catalytic hydrogenation reactor for plastic pyrolysis fuels