World Premiere: South Korea’s Plasma Torch Could Transform Plastic Recycling

The principle of recycling is familiar to you today. However, if it is a solution to limit our waste and adopt more environmentally friendly behavior, it is nonetheless imperfect because it pollutes, in particular because of the emission of greenhouse gases during the incineration of plastic. And to that, we add the created waste which in turn pollutes the earth, the air and the waters. In short, we can do better. And apparently, South Korea has succeeded.

On the one hand, we have waste whose usefulness is particularly limited since it is not used, so to speak, nothing, so you have to get rid of it. On the other hand, some companies are working to use certain waste to transform it into fuel.

And of course, during the process, burning plastic emits a lot of greenhouse gases, not to mention toxic smoke. But according to a press release from Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (Kimm), we would be at the dawn of a transformation, of a revolution in this industry.

And all that, thanks to the plasma torch. “” “We have developed a process for successfully converting mixed plastic waste into raw materials, a world premiere. We will now strive to solve the problems linked to waste and emissions thanks to continuous demonstrations and the marketing of this major advance“Said the program director in remarks reported by Gizmodo.

What it means is that we are therefore at the dawn of being able to chemically recycle plastic. No need to burn it anymore.

How does this recycling technique work?

And yes, it's fine to say that something is revolutionary but if you don't know how it works, it's a little stain.

Thus, the goal is therefore to use a plasma torch, ionized gas and very (very) hot, which goes, in the space of 0.01 seconds, to disintegrate the plastic. So it's going very quickly. Leaving behind, two essential raw materials, benzene and ethylene, to reproduce plastic without using non -renewable resources.

In detail, if pyrolysis is a process in which plastic can be heated up to 600 ° C, the plasma used by the South Korean Institute can reach a temperature between 1000 ° C and 2000 ° C.

And the icing on the cake, recycling only becoming truly virtuous if it is respectful of the environment as a whole, the plasma torch is supplied with hydrogen, so this will in the direction of limiting, or even nullifying the carbon impact of plastic recycling.

Will this come to thwart the famous myth of recycling which has been demonstrated by Greenpeace in a 2022 report? We don't know.

On the other hand, what we know is that we continue to produce more and more plastic and the solutions to recycle it and get rid of it without too much environmental, economic and health impact, they are counted on the fingers of the hand.

Source : Gizmodo