TY - JOUR
T1 - From plastic waste to potential wealth: Upcycling technologies, process synthesis, assessment and optimization
AU - Qian, Qiming
AU - Ren, Jingzheng
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from the Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University under student account code RKQ6 , a grant from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) (Project ID: P0043333, Funding Body Ref. No: ECF 51/2022 , Project No. K-ZB5Z)., and a grant from Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China-General Research Fund (Project ID: P0042030, Funding Body Ref. No: 15304222 , Project No. B-Q97U).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2024/1/10
Y1 - 2024/1/10
N2 - Global plastics production has doubled since the beginning of 21st century. Efficient technology is called for plastics waste valorization. The current review provides an overview of the main waste plastic chemical upcycling technologies to produce value-added products. Various technologies including gasification and pyrolysis are under reviewed. However, several review literatures have paid attention to the details and experimental progress in these chemical upcycling techniques. In this review, we attempt to conclude the progress in a multi-scale systems-by-systems perspective. After a brief overview of the current state-of-the-art chemical upcycling techniques, larger-scale process synthesis, assessment, and optimization methodologies to address the sustainability and environmental issues are summarized. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment are selected as two powerful tools for process assessment. Three particular application scenarios of optimization methodologies including experimental design, process synthesis and supply chain management are consequently introduced. Very little work on review articles have summarized the plastic waste-to-wealth process in the systems engineering perspective. Review results show that (1) gasification and pyrolysis offer promising avenues for the conversion of plastic waste into valuable products. These technologies can be integrated with other subsystems to enhance the economic and environmental performance of the overall system. (2) Response surface methodology is commonly used in experimental design and parameter optimization. It allows researchers to systematically investigate the effects of various parameters and optimize process conditions to maximize desired outputs. (3) Superstructure optimization frameworks are valuable tools for process synthesis and pathway selection in plastic waste conversion. However, the potential superstructure is pre-defined. (4) Green supply chain and multi-objective supply chain frameworks can be applied to the design of plastic waste recycling networks, taking into account both economic and environmental considerations.
AB - Global plastics production has doubled since the beginning of 21st century. Efficient technology is called for plastics waste valorization. The current review provides an overview of the main waste plastic chemical upcycling technologies to produce value-added products. Various technologies including gasification and pyrolysis are under reviewed. However, several review literatures have paid attention to the details and experimental progress in these chemical upcycling techniques. In this review, we attempt to conclude the progress in a multi-scale systems-by-systems perspective. After a brief overview of the current state-of-the-art chemical upcycling techniques, larger-scale process synthesis, assessment, and optimization methodologies to address the sustainability and environmental issues are summarized. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment are selected as two powerful tools for process assessment. Three particular application scenarios of optimization methodologies including experimental design, process synthesis and supply chain management are consequently introduced. Very little work on review articles have summarized the plastic waste-to-wealth process in the systems engineering perspective. Review results show that (1) gasification and pyrolysis offer promising avenues for the conversion of plastic waste into valuable products. These technologies can be integrated with other subsystems to enhance the economic and environmental performance of the overall system. (2) Response surface methodology is commonly used in experimental design and parameter optimization. It allows researchers to systematically investigate the effects of various parameters and optimize process conditions to maximize desired outputs. (3) Superstructure optimization frameworks are valuable tools for process synthesis and pathway selection in plastic waste conversion. However, the potential superstructure is pre-defined. (4) Green supply chain and multi-objective supply chain frameworks can be applied to the design of plastic waste recycling networks, taking into account both economic and environmental considerations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174680532&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167897
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167897
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37866600
AN - SCOPUS:85174680532
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 907
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 167897
ER -