Tuning Supercritical Water for Polymer Recycling to Monomers and Chemicals

调整超临界水以将聚合物回收为单体和化学品

• 批准号: 571841-2021
• 负责人: Charpentier, PaulA
• 金额: $ 16.38万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=746667
• 关键词: Tuning; Supercritical; Water; Polymer; Recycling

In this NSERC Alliance-Mitacs Accelerate project, we will work with Aduro Clean Technology Inc. (ACT) to develop a new economically viable continuous process focusing on sub/supercritical water (SCW) for intractable polymer recycling. Initial work will focus on water as the solvent, as we have developed a previous continuous process with Aduro using water for converting fatty acids from corn distillers waste into green diesel. Aduro have developed a small pilot unit in Sarnia, Ontario based on our labs previous results for corn conversion. Our goal in this project is to develop an environmentally-responsible upcycling process that can handle both diverse mixed plastic wastes and intractable plastics found in todays and tomorrows landfills. Our methodology will be to develop a multi-stage reactor system with each stage controlled under different experimental conditions. Firsty we will remove valuable products such as additives, carbon fibers, then chemically convert the remainder catalytically to valuable chemicals including monomers and aromatics. A pyrolytic end-process for treating waste materials from this process will be examined which can be utilized by Sarnia refiners. Our goal is to minimize carbon loss through this novel reactor design process, examining both model polymeric systems and real waste streams. We will develop a new analytical view-cell method to allow us to measure dissolution and depolymerization kinetics under the process conditions of interest in water to facilitate our reactor design and process modeling. For the catalytic process to monomers and chemicals, the process parameters including temperature, pressure, catalyst type, residence time, and water to feed ratios will be studied with kinetic models developed suitable for scale-up. The students will work with the ACT team to develop a pilot plant at their Sarnia, Ontario facility that can demonstrate this technology. This project will help lower Canada's carbon waste while supporting the circular economy, helping to eliminate a current waste problem while providing a new cleantech solution and value chain for the Canadian economy.

在这个NSERC联盟- mitacs加速项目中，我们将与Aduro清洁技术公司（ACT）合作，开发一种新的经济上可行的连续工艺，专注于亚/超临界水（SCW）的难降解聚合物回收。最初的工作将集中于水作为溶剂，因为我们已经与Aduro开发了一个先前的连续过程，使用水将玉米蒸馏废液中的脂肪酸转化为绿色柴油。Aduro已经在安大略省萨尼亚开发了一个小型试点单位，基于我们实验室以前的玉米转化结果。我们在这个项目中的目标是开发一种对环境负责的升级回收过程，可以处理今天和未来垃圾填埋场中发现的各种混合塑料废物和难处理塑料。我们的方法将是开发一个多级反应器系统，每一级控制在不同的实验条件下。首先，我们将去除有价值的产品，如添加剂、碳纤维，然后将剩余的催化化学转化为有价值的化学品，包括单体和芳烃。将研究用于处理该过程产生的废料的热解末端工艺，该工艺可用于萨尼亚炼油厂。我们的目标是通过这种新型反应器设计过程，检查模型聚合物系统和实际废物流，最大限度地减少碳损失。我们将开发一种新的分析视图细胞方法，使我们能够在感兴趣的水的工艺条件下测量溶解和解聚动力学，以促进我们的反应器设计和工艺建模。对于单体和化学品的催化过程，包括温度、压力、催化剂类型、停留时间和水料比在内的工艺参数将通过适合扩大规模的动力学模型进行研究。学生们将与ACT团队合作，在安大略省萨尼亚的工厂建立一个试点工厂，以展示这项技术。该项目将有助于降低加拿大的碳废物，同时支持循环经济，帮助消除当前的废物问题，同时为加拿大经济提供新的清洁技术解决方案和价值链。