Pyrolysis-based methods to upcycle plastic wastes to value-added carbons

Abstract

The ever-increasing production of plastics reveals the necessity of robust waste recycling technologies, which is critical for environmental sustainabilty and economic prosperity. Not only must these processes be capable of addressing a broad variety of commodity polymers, but they must also produce cost-competitive products to allow for widescale implementation. Conversion of plastic wastes into value-added carbon materials offers a promising upcycling pathway, potentially coupling cost-efficacy with process scalability. This work reviews the current progress in plastics-derived carbons, focusing on common commodity thermoplastics such as polyolefins, polyethylene terephthalate, and polystyrene while also highlighting more complex plastic waste streams, including thermosets, engineering plastics, composites, and mixed wastes. Lastly, a perspective is provided on future research opportunities to further enable the upcycling of plastic wastes to valuable carbonaceous materials.