LSU Researchers Create Low-Cost Method to Recycle Plastic

LSU researchers have created a new, low-cost way to break down plastic, a potential
breakthrough that could save billions of dollars and eliminate billions of tons of
plastic pollution.

“Getting plastics to the recycling plant is only half the battle. The other half is
reusing that plastic waste to create new products,” said James Dorman, program manager
with the U.S. Department of Energy and former LSU Chemical Engineering professor.
“Some estimates show as much as 95 percent of plastics in the U.S. ends up in landfills
and incinerators. Our process breaks down commercial plastics, including polystyrene
and high- and low-density polyethylene, so recycled material can be seamlessly integrated
into new products.”

Dorman and LSU Chemical Engineering Professor Kerry Dooley use electromagnetic induction
heating along with special magnetic materials and catalysts to break down different
types of plastic.

Electromagnetic waves melt the plastics from the inside out, which requires far less
energy. Dorman and Dooley’s process also produces only small amounts of unwanted byproducts
such as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, unlike conventional recycling. The conventional
method of melting plastic waste, pyrolysis, requires high temperatures and produces
gases like carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

Dorman and Dooley’s method works at lower temperatures and offers more precise control
of the breakdown process. Their method can be tailored to handle food residues and
other contaminants that help limit plastics recycling. For example, recyclers commonly
send plastic containers that still contain food – yogurt for example – to the landfill
because the residue taints the recycled material.

Most plastic starts with fossil fuels. Refiners heat oil and natural gas to “crack”
the large molecules into smaller molecules, among them ethylene and propylene. Those
chemicals are the building blocks used to make a variety of plastics. By linking the
monomers, plastics manufacturers create a long chain molecule called a polymer, or
a plastic.

 “Our extraction process retains key, core monomers, so they can be reinserted into
the polymerization process,” Dorman said. “For example, we can pull the ethylene from
the polyethylene during recycling and use it to make new polyethylene.”

Ethylene and propylene are extremely valuable. The global market for ethylene alone
is estimated at $150 billion.

“By recycling these chemicals, we can help reduce the need for new fossil fuels and
lower greenhouse gas emissions,” Dooley said. “Basically, our extraction process helps
clean up the environment and creates a way to make money from what was once trash.”

“This breakthrough in plastic recycling is a crucial step in our Scholarship First
Agenda mission to build a research platform for energy resilience,” said LSU Vice
President of Research and Economic Development Robert Twilley. “By innovating processes
that increase the recycling of carbon-based materials and reduce carbon emissions,
LSU is addressing the challenge of plastic waste and helping to create a sustainable
energy future.”

Dorman and Dooley have worked with the LSU Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization
(ITC) to pursue patent protection for their invention.

“We’re excited about helping Drs. Dorman and Dooley explore the commercial possibilities
for this cutting-edge technology,” said Daniel Felch, LSU ITC senior commercialization
officer.

About LSU’s Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization

LSU’s Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization (ITC) protects and commercializes
LSU’s intellectual property. The office focuses on transferring early-stage inventions
and works into the marketplace for the greater benefit of society. ITC also handles
federal invention reporting, which allows LSU to receive hundreds of millions of dollars
each year in federally funded research, and processes confidentiality agreements,
material transfer agreements and other agreements related to intellectual property.

About the LSU Office of Innovation & Ecosystem Development

LSU Innovation unites the university’s innovation and commercialization resources
under one office, maximizing LSU’s impact on the intellectual, economic and social
development of Louisiana and beyond. LSU Innovation is focused on establishing, developing
and growing technology-based startup companies. LSU Innovation oversees LSU Innovation
Park, a 200-acre business incubator that fosters early-stage tech companies, and the
Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization, which streamlines the process
of evaluating, protecting and licensing intellectual property created by LSU researchers.
LSU Innovation serves as the host organization for the Louisiana Small Business Development
Center (SBDC) network, which oversees all SBDC services across the state as well as
the LSU SBDC, which provides free consulting services to small businesses across the
state. LSU Innovation helps Louisiana technology companies apply for seed funding
through the federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology
Transfer grant programs. LSU Innovation educates faculty, students and the community
on entrepreneurial principles through the National Science Foundation’s Innovation
Corps (I-Corps) program, which trains innovators to consider the market opportunities
for pressing scientific questions, leading to increased funding from state and federal
grant programs as well as industry partners and licensees.