A groundbreaking process that can sustainably recycle otherwise unrecyclable plastic waste has won the grand prize of a global chemical engineers award ceremony.
Given the potential scope of the discovery, the ten-year development of the process by Plastic Energy won the top prize as well as two other awards at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Global Awards 2020.
Along with the Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering, the company also won the prizes for Innovative Product and Sustainability.
The process, which uses a patented system to break down plastics back into feedstock nuggets, could transform the plastic recycling and toll processing worlds, as far more plastic could be feasibly recycled than what is currently possible.
The process uses thermal anaerobic conversion to take end fo life processes into a new feedstock that can be used either to create recycled clean plastics or low carbon fuels.
At present, the primary way to recycle some plastics is to grind up similar plastics into a powder and then melted back into a material to make new plastic products.
The new process would use the thermal anaerobic conversion process to make plastics that would otherwise end up at landfill and convert them into a recycled oil feedstock. This can be used to create virgin quality plastic that is used for clear plastic bottles and other clear products.
Reducing the amount of waste plastic in the world has been a major pursuit of manufacturers and engineers to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills, causing major ecological issues.