Researchers from UCLA and Ewha Womans University in South Korea have developed a single-reactor process that converts unsorted PET, PE, and PP plastic waste into high-purity hydrogen with zero carbon emissions. This breakthrough was published this month in the journal PNAS.
Hydrogen is widely used in industrial processes and holds great promise for limiting associated carbon emissions, as it can be combusted at high temperatures, leaving behind only water vapor:
This new technology, called Alkaline Thermal Treatment (ATT), can convert plastic waste into pure hydrogen without the need for sorting plastics:
“We are solving two urgent global problems at the same time,” said Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA:
