Scientists invent a bright way to upcycle plastics into liquids that can store hydrogen energy

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Scientists have created a process that can upcycle most plastics into chemicals useful for energy storage, using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a commercially available catalyst, all at room temperature. The new process is very energy-efficient and can be easily powered by renewable energy in the future, unlike other heat-driven recycling processes like pyrolysis. Currently, only nine per cent of plastics globally are recycled and the rest are typically discarded in landfills or incinerated.

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have created a process that can upcycle most plastics into chemical ingredients useful for energy storage, using light-emitting diodes and a commercially available catalyst, all at room temperature.

Currently, the only commercial way to recycle such plastics is through pyrolysis, which has high energy costs and generates large amounts of greenhouse emissions, making it cost-prohibitive given the lower value product of the resulting pyrolysis oil. After separation from the solution, the resulting end products are chemical ingredients such as formic acid and benzoic acid, which can be used to make other chemicals employed in fuel cells and liquid organic hydrogen carriers . LOHCs are now being explored by the energy sector as they play critical roles in clean energy development, given their ability to store and transport hydrogen gas more safely.

, which also involves Professor Xin Chang, Associate Dean from the Nanyang Business School and Associate Professor Md Saidul Islam from the School of Social Sciences.

 

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