Chemists at the University of Copenhagen have developed a method to convert plastic waste into a climate solution for efficient and sustainable CO2 capture.
This effective solution addresses two of the world’s biggest challenges: plastic pollution and the climate crisis.
As CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise, despite years of political efforts to limit emissions, the world’s oceans are being overwhelmed by plastics, which threaten marine environments and ecosystems.
The key global problems are often interconnected, and typically, the solution to one problem creates another one while the clock keeps ticking. But what if we could solve multiple problems simultaneously?
Solving plastic waste issues without creating more
PET plastic is one of the most widely used types of plastic in the world, but when it has served its purpose, it becomes a pressing global environmental issue.
This is because it ends up in landfills in many parts of the world, where it breaks down into polluting microplastics that spread to the air, soil and groundwater. A large portion also ends up in the oceans.
“The beauty of this method is that we solve a problem without creating a new one. By turning waste into a raw material that can actively reduce greenhouse gases, we make an environmental issue part of the solution to the climate crisis,” said Margarita Poderyte from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the study.
The solution is a potential win-win on a global scale, where plastic waste not only does not end up in nature but also becomes an active player in climate mitigation.
Sustainable, flexible and scalable
With the new chemical technology, researchers can transform PET plastic waste that is overlooked by recyclers into a primary resource in a new form of CO2 sorbent they have developed.
The process ‘upcycles’ it into a new material, which the researchers have named BAETA, that can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere so efficiently that it easily compares with existing carbon capture technologies.
Once saturated, CO2 can be released through a heating process, allowing it to be concentrated, collected, and stored or converted into a sustainable resource. In practice, the researchers expect the technology to be first installed on industrial plants with exhausts from chimneys passing through BAETA units to cleanse them of CO2.
Poderyte explained: “The main ingredient is plastic waste that would otherwise have an unsustainable afterlife, and the synthesis we use, where the chemical transformation takes place, is gentler than other materials for CO2 capture because we can make the synthesis in ambient temperatures.”
Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Jiwoong Lee, the study’s co-author, added: “One of the impressive things about this material is that it stays effective for a long time. And flexible. With this kind of tolerance to high temperatures, the material can be used at the end of industrial plants where the exhausts are typically hot.”
From the lab to real-life use
With a potentially revolutionary idea, a proven method and an effective finished product, the researchers are now ready for the next step.
“We see great potential for this material, not just in the lab, but in real-life industrial carbon capture plants. The next big step is scaling up to produce the material in tonnes, and we’re already working to attract investments and make our invention a financially sustainable business venture,” Poderyte stated.
“If we can get our hands on the highly decomposed PET plastic floating in the world’s oceans, it will be a valuable resource for us as it’s so well suited for upcycling with our method.”
The researchers hope that their invention can help to fundamentally change the way we see climate and environmental issues as separate problems.
“We’re not talking about stand-alone issues, nor will the solutions be. Our material can create a very concrete economic incentive to cleanse the oceans of plastic,” Lee concluded.