Issue 7, 2023

Nonviable carbon neutrality with plastic waste-to-energy

Abstract

Incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification during plastic waste treatment are inevitable to reduce the volume of landfilled plastic waste and recover energy; however, they cause severe carbon emissions. We show that the current practices of plastic waste-to-energy will significantly impact carbon neutrality. Various energy recovery systems, such as combined power cycles and fuel cells, were modeled to evaluate the power generated and CO2 emitted from treating the current and projected plastic waste by 2050. The CO2 emissions from plastic waste-to-energy systems are higher than those from current fossil fuel-based power systems per unit of power generated, even after considering the contribution of carbon capture and storage. Power generation using plastic waste will significantly increase by 2050, and therefore, we suggest technologies required for achieving carbon neutrality.

Graphical abstract: Nonviable carbon neutrality with plastic waste-to-energy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 mar 2023
Accepted
07 jún 2023
First published
08 jún 2023

Energy Environ. Sci., 2023,16, 3074-3087

Nonviable carbon neutrality with plastic waste-to-energy

S. Kwon, J. Kang, B. Lee, S. Hong, Y. Jeon, M. Bak and S. Im, Energy Environ. Sci., 2023, 16, 3074 DOI: 10.1039/D3EE00969F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements