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Home , Plastic recycling

Are reliable and emerging technologies available for in a ?

John A. Glaser, E Sahle-Demessie, Teri Richardson

United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research & Development Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response Cincinnati, Ohio, United States 45268 Disclaimer

The views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Any mention of trade names or external references does not indicate endorsement by the EPA. Plastic Recycling For a Circular Economy

• Recycling of provides a circular economy for plastic production and use. • Converts into raw materials. • Retained or converted materials to useful items. • Reduce requirements for virgin plastic materials. • Strive to decouple plastic from the consumption of finite resources.

Ellen McArthur Foundation Mountains and mountains

• Virgin production for 1950 to 2015 has been estimated at 9,150 US Tons (T). • Global consumption of plastics carries on at a rate of roughly 343 T per year with 90% derived from a petroleum origin. • Bulk of plastic waste is disposed in and the natural environment. • quantities may exceed 13,228 T of plastic waste by 2050 at current production and unabated trends. Replacing virgin by recycled plastics EPA Recycling Statistics across time

Less than 10% recycled (US)

< 80% plastic waste goes to landfill 1960-2017 Data on Plastics in MSW by Weight (thousands of US Tons)

Management 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 Pathway

Generation 390 2,900 6,830 17,130 25,550 29,380 31,400 34,480 34,870 35,370

Recycled - - 20 370 1,480 1,780 2,500 3,120 3,240 2,960

Composted ------

Combustion with - - 140 2,980 4,120 4,330 4,530 5,330 5,340 5,590

Landfilled 390 2,900 6,670 13,780 19,950 23,270 24,370 26,030 26,290 26,820

Sources: American Chemistry Council and the National Association for PET Resources A dash in the table means that data are not available. Feedstock Considerations

• Collection of desirable waste for recycle requires the ability to segregate different forms of plastic to provide a recyclable bulk. • Expedient utilization based on feedstock’s quality is quite important to process economics. (Absence of labels, food, or off spec recycle). • Distance separating collection point and recycling facility is a critical element. Feedstock Issues

Reject Stream Results 45% 42% 40% • Plastic feedstock difficulties 35% • 31% Availability 30% 27% 25% • Quality 20% • Cost 15%

10% • Virgin product competition

5%

0%

Clear PET Non-PET Colored PET

Plastic Recycling Corporation of California – Plastic Recycling Update – Winter 2020 Feed Characteristics Considerations

• Age and conditions: • Plastic waste recently disposed. • Waste feed not subjected to aggressive weathering. • Relatively homogeneous composition. • Dependable quantities. feed

US Ton (T) = 1.1 x Metric ton (mt) End Use of Plastics

Non-Food Other (+ End Use US Tons (X % Engineered 1000) Resin) Fiber 447 47 Beverage & Food 203 21 Bottles Fil & Sheet Fiber Film & Sheet 178 19 Strapping 79 8 Non-Food Bottles 42 4 Other 12 1 (+Engineered Beverage & Resin) Food Bottles Total 961 100

WM Report on Recycling September 2020 Recycling Facility Distribution

EPA Region Facilities PET (X 1000 US Tons) 1 (NE) 0 0 2 (NY/NJ) 4 124 3 (Mid-Atl) 0 0 4 (SE) 7 356 5 (NCen) 7 218 6 (SCen) 1 37 7. (MidWest) 0 0 8. (MrnPln) 1 41 9. (PacSW) 6 174 10. (PacNW) 1 11 Total 27 961 WM Report on Recycling September 2020 Process Efficiency

• Sorting and pretreatment process of the plastic waste is pivotal to process composition. • Optimization of sorting processes can be important to the selection of process feed and selection. • Selection of a recycling process based on the different properties of the plastic composition. • Highly mixed compositions focus on the utilization of plastic as fuel and extend to fuel or energy related products. • Process selection is related to the plastic composition of the feed for extended time periods. • Contaminated plastics must be cleaned to a level acceptable to the process and not decrease the process efficiency. PET Prod Economics & Footprint Chemical Processing of Plastics

• Plastic is reduced in size through a mechanical chopping process. • Treated with some combination of water, heat, pressure and enzymes or catalysts. • The plastic materials is depolymerized into constituent parts. • Resulting chemicals or mixtures can be repolymerized into virgin-quality resins without loss of desired properties. • Other options is use as fuel or as the raw materials for other products. resain

Environmental Research Letters 2020, 15 Plastic Recycling Strata 1o & 2o

Scrap Primary recovery

Extrusion

Secondary Shredding Pelletizing

Injection Molding Plastic Recycling Strata 3o

Energy Recovery Cracking Chemical

Chemical Alcoholysis Recovery Tertiary Glycolysis Gasification

Thermolysis

Hydrogenation PET Site

Eastman PET Depolymerization

Facility Location Throughput Process Manufacturer 1 Tennessee 110 million US tons/yr Methanolysis of PET and (2020) glycolysis of PET Manufacturer 2 South Carolina 46 million pounds/yr 1st yr Low-heat, pressure less 88 million pounds/yr process (2020)

Emerging Technology Illinois Pilot Plant (2020) Depolymerization PET Methanolysis Chemical Recycling Options PET Thermoform Packaging Recycle

• PET thermoform packaging can be an important source like PET bottles. • Packaging includes clamshells, cups, tubs, , , trays, egg and similar rigid, non- packaging made of PET (#1) plastic resin. • Between 2011 and 2019 domestic reclamation of PET thermoforms has more than quadrupled, though some technical and design for recyclability issues remain. • All thermoforms are PET so sorting problems do exist.

2020 PET Thermoform Recycling: A Progress Report, National Association for PET Container Resources Pyrolytic Conversion of Carbon Nanomaterials

Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, 16, 5843–5859 Carbon Content of Selected Polymers

Polymer Empiracal Formula Carbon Content (weight %)

Polyethylene PE (C2H4)n 85.6

Polypropylene PP (C3H6)n 85.6

Polystyrene PS (C8H8)n 92.2

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (C10H8O4)n 62.6

Polyacrylonitrile PAN (C3H5N)n 67.9

J. APPL. POLYM. SCI. 2014, DOI: 10.1002/APP.39931 Nanocatalytic Conversion of Hydrogen Production from Polypropylene Reaction and Reactor Requirements

• Two stage reactor design. • Catalyst selection for hydrogen production. • Catalyst selection for carbon nanotube synthesis. • Process parameters. • Waste plastic dependency. Chemical Recycling Properties

• Tolerant of contamination. • Recycled polymers have identical properties to virgin materials. • Argumentatively green technology. • Gives users and producers opportunities to engage a circular economic cycle and gain the recovery of assets in the philosophy. • An emerging technology requiring the necessary scrutiny in economic, environmental, safety, and health considerations to strengthen its role as an acceptable technology. Promise of Chemical Recycling

• Recover plastics unsuited to traditional mechanical recycling methods • Emerging from experimental phase. • Enable brand owners to produce plastics made at 100 % or lesser content mixtures from reused material. • Fulfill their sustainable commitments and for recyclers to better value the plastics that are currently landfilled or incinerated. Market Demand

• Brand manufacturers have agreed to partner to use plastic as a raw material to produce liquid hydrocarbons, chemicals and new plastics. • Brand owners have expressed interest in the chemical recycling of plastics. • Brand owners and recycling technology have targeted the product will contain at least 50 % recycled material by 2030. • Governments are looking for similar objectives/requirements in the 2030 timeframe. Market Dimensions

● Currently, this technology targets the easier component of used plastic flows by addressing the recyclable features of recently generated waste. ● As the market opens, there will be limited competition for the desired plastic feed. ● As the market grows competition could be severe. ● Weathered or aged plastic waste can be recycled by conversion technologies to fuels and energy products by pyrolytic/thermal technologies. ● Once the easy to recycle plastic waste is addressed, there will be a need to expand the available technologies to enable the proper recycling of the plastic waste. Plastics Recycling Debate Issues

• Proposed legislation makes undesirable changes to the US plastic recycling system according to recycling industry. • Puts restrictions on established technology. • Chemical recycling or advanced plastics recycling would not be considered “true” recycling by current proposed legislation. • Industry asserts that this would significantly reduce the amount of plastic recycling. • Proposed suspension of permitting for “covered facilities” for plastics conversion such as: • Conversion of natural gas liquids into ethylene and propylene for later conversion into plastic polymers. • Repolymerization of plastic polymers to chemical feedstocks for use in new products or as fuel. • Generation of fuel or energy from plastic polymers through waste-to-fuel technology,. • . qu