Plastic pollution has become ubiquitous in natural and built environments, raising grave concerns about harm to humans and nature alike. Once in the environment, research shows that plastic pollution may take between 100 to 1,000 years or more to decompose, depending on environmental conditions.
Argonne National Laboratory scientist Max Delferro will explain how he and colleagues have developed a suite of novel catalysts and a blueprint for an industrial process to convert single-use plastics into high-value industrial products like lubricants or base oils. This technology has the potential to make a global impact because it not only addresses the plastic pollution problem, it could also result in financial upside.
Now that this new technology has been validated in multiple environments in the laboratory, Argonne is seeking partners to scale up and test it in an industrial setting. The ideal partners include recycling or chemical companies that are interested in pushing the technological boundaries and are committed to tackling the environmental issues posed by plastic pollution.