CircuPlast - A Green Chemical Recycling Process for PET

该项目将开发cirplast，一种先进的环保技术，回收废弃的pet基塑料（如锅、沙拉盘和浴缸），将其转化为可用于制造新鲜塑料的商品化合物。目前，英国只有一半的PET垃圾被回收利用，其余的被填埋或焚烧。这是由于当前回收过程的局限性：机械回收被广泛使用，但会降低PET的物理性能，限制使用寿命和可用性；热解将PET转化为气体、焦油和其他物质的混合物，但不能产生生产PET所需的化学物质。我们的cirplast技术利用高压和高温下的热压缩水（HCW）的独特强大特性，将PET废物转化为高价值的化合物，即对苯二甲酸（TPA）和乙二醇（EG），然后可用于制造新鲜的PET塑料。这项技术将提高PET的整体回收率，从而有助于防止塑料废物释放到环境中，同时也减少了与塑料制造相关的碳排放——通过用可持续来源的替代品取代化石燃料来源的原料。该项目将展示cirplast对PET回收的适用性，采用实验室规模的间歇式反应器来优化工艺条件并生成实验数据，这些数据将集成到该工艺的计算机模型中，并用于设计工业规模的连续工艺。放大后的工艺设计将包括PET原料制备、HCW水解转化和产品/副产品流的分离，以实现高效、环保的高纯度TPA和EG。成功的结果将提供一个宝贵的平台，将该技术推向中试规模的演示。除了帮助解决与环境中塑料有关的有据可稽的问题外，该项目还将寻求采用真正的循环经济方法来管理PET塑料包装，特别是因为目前的机械回收工艺仅限于未污染和未变质的PET废物。

This project will develop CircuPlast, an advanced eco-friendly technology, to recycle waste PET-based plastics (e.g., pots, salad trays, and tubs), by converting them to commodity compounds that can be used to manufacture fresh plastics.Currently, only half of the PET waste in the UK is recycled, with the remainder going to landfill or incineration. This is due to limitations in present-day recycling processes: mechanical recycling is widely utilised but degrades the physical properties of PET, limiting lifespan and useability; pyrolysis converts PET to a mixture of gases, tars and other substances but does not yield the chemicals desired for PET production.Our technology, CircuPlast, utilises the unique powerful properties of hot compressed water (HCW) at elevated pressures and temperatures to convert PET waste into high-value chemical compounds, namely terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG), which can then be used to manufacture fresh PET plastic.This technology will increase the overall recycling rate for PET and thereby help prevent the release of plastic waste into the environment whilst also reducing the carbon emissions associated with plastic manufacture -- by supplanting fossil fuel derived feedstocks with sustainably sourced alternatives.This project will demonstrate the applicability of CircuPlast to PET recycling, employing a laboratory-scale batch reactor to optimise process conditions and generate experimental data, which will be integrated into a computer model of the process and utilised to design an industrial scale continuous process. The scaled-up process design will include PET feedstock preparation, hydrolytic conversion by HCW, and separation of product/by-product streams to achieve an efficient, environmentally friendly route to high purity TPA and EG. Successful outcome will lend an invaluable platform to take the technology forward to a pilot scale demonstrator. As well as helping to address the well-documented issues relating to plastics in the environment, this project will also seek to enable a truly circular economy approach to the management of PET plastics packaging, especially as current mechanical recycling processes are limited to non-contaminated and non-deteriorated PET waste.