This Portable Plant Turns Plastics Back into Oil

Plastics are one of the most useful materials ever created. This novel material can keep food fresh, form lifesaving medical equipment, and insulate people’s homes. Plastics are found in almost everything from technology to vehicles to sports gear.

A new process may allow people to reap the myriad benefits plastics have to offer, without the downsides, according to Interesting Engineering. In the past, this durable and waterproof material has proven notoriously difficult to recycle. Now, a pilot program  at the University of Amsterdam, hopes to solve this problem using a method called Solvothermal Liquefaction (STL) that can turn back the clock on plastics by restoring them to an oil that can then be used to manufacture new, clean plastic products.

Solvothermal Liquefaction
Solvothermal Liquefaction is a novel process that relies on a specialized nanostructured solid catalyst, alongside heat and solvent, to kickstart a chemical reaction inside a reactor vessel. The heat, pressure, and catalysts quickly break down the molecular bonds found in plastics. 

After only a half hour inside the reactor vessel, the reaction is complete. The process produces three products: gas, which helps power the system, char, a solid waste byproduct, and a dark brown oil that is chemically similar to the oil made from fossil fuels. This oil can be used to manufacture new plastics, creating a circular recycling process.

A Transportable Plant
The University of Amsterdam team that invented the process, partnered with an Indian engineering company that specializes in industrial solutions, to create a transportable recycling plant, according to a press release from the University of Amsterdam. 

The entire plant weighs less than 10,000 pounds and consists of a steel frame. All the components, including a 25 liter reactor vessel, storage tanks, and safety systems can be mounted onto the steel frame, at the production site, making the plant easily transportable. The recycling system can also be operated via remote control.

Heading to Spain
Now, the unique recycling facility is on its way to Spain, according to the University of Amsterdam. There, the University of Amsterdam team has partnered with COGERSA, a Spanish public waste management company, to put the system to the test with real-world recycling conditions.

This step came after the transportable plant passed a number of safety and engineering design tests and approvals as well as the Factory Acceptance Test.

Dr. Shiju Raveendran, the engineer who led the team, tells the University of Amsterdam that this step will allow them to evaluate how the system handles real, unsorted, municipal trash. 

“Our lab experiments,” Raveendran explains, “already included actual plastic waste, but we will certainly encounter challenges we could not fully foresee. That is precisely the purpose of this scale-up phase – to move the technology toward genuine industrial relevance.”

He added, “I think this is exactly what makes the work meaningful: transforming research into real-world solutions. Another rewarding aspect of this project has been seeing the involved young researchers grow through exposure to real industrial challenges, gaining experience in multidisciplinary collaboration and sustainability-driven innovation.”

Every great innovation starts with a first real-world test. If this portable plant succeeds in Spain, yesterday’s plastic waste could become tomorrow’s raw materials. This brings the world one  step closer to a cleaner and greener future.