Combining Reclaimed PET with Bio-Based Monomers Enables Plastics Upcycling

Less than 30% of PET plastic is recycled in the United States.^[1] The low reclamation rate may be due to mechanical recycling accounting for the majority of commercial PET recycling. Mechanical recycling yields a lower-quality recycled plastic than the process of chemically recycling back to the monomer phase, which can be energetically and economically expensive. In this work, recently published in Joule, reclaimed PET bottles are chemically recycled and converted into higher-value fiberglass-reinforced plastics (FRPs).^[2] This presentation will focus on the supply-chain level energy and greenhouse gas emissions intensities associated with this novel upcycling route. The Materials Flows through Industry supply chain analysis tool, developed at NREL, is used to estimate these impacts.^[3] Depending on the extent and speed of adoption, this strategy for plastic upcycling could lead to significant energy usage and emissions reductions over the traditional FRP supply chain. Overall, this approach could provide an economic incentive for plastics recycling and renewable feedstock use through the creation of higher-value FRPs.

References

[1] National Association for PET Container Resources, and the Association of Plastic Recyclers. Report on postconsumer PET container recycling activity in 2014. https://www.plasticsrecycling.org/images/pdf/resources/reports/Rate-Reports/APR_NAPCOR_2014RateReport.pdf

[2] Rorrer, Nicholas A., Scott Nicholson, Alberta Carpenter, Mary J. Biddy, Nicholas J. Grundl, and Gregg T. Beckham. "Combining Reclaimed PET with Bio-based Monomers Enables Plastics Upcycling." Joule (2019).

[3] Hanes, Rebecca J., and Alberta Carpenter. "Evaluating opportunities to improve material and energy impacts in commodity supply chains." Environment Systems and Decisions 37, no. 1 (2017): 6-12.