2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

(582d) Upcycling of Waste Plastic to Porous Carbon and Its Application to CO2

Author

Ki Bong Lee - Presenter, Korea University
Because of the development of industry and the increase in the use of fossil fuels, the emission of CO2, a major greenhouse gas keeps increasing and the continuous increase of CO2 concentration in atmosphere causes severe environmental and climate change problems. Among various CO2 reduction efforts, carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies are being developed and applied in various forms. Analyzing the CCS technology, it takes 70% or more of the cost in the capture stage, thus it is necessary to develop an efficient capture technology for an applicable CCS technology. Among various CO2 capture methods, adsorption has the advantages of low energy consumption, flexible process operation, and easy scale-up. Materials such as zeolite, activated carbon, and metal organic framework have been considered adsorbents for capturing CO2. Porous carbon materials have the advantages of being inexpensive, having excellent thermal/chemical stability, and being able to control the pore structure by varying treatment conditions. This talk will introduce research on synthesizing porous carbon materials with micropores through carbonization and activation processes from waste plastic discarded after use and applying them to CO2 adsorption. The upcycling of waste plastic to porous carbon for CO2 capture can contribute to solve two important environmental problems of global warming and waste plastic disposal.