I-Corps: Efficient Chemical Upcycling of Plastic Waste to Value Added Products

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to reduce the amount of landfilled or environmentally polluting plastic waste and to investigate the commercial potential of activities that divert plastic waste from landfill. Plastic waste is a massive problem for modern society because single-use plastic products touch all aspects of life, and reducing their use, recycling, or finding alternative materials cannot fully address the problem. In addition, plastics that leach into the environment damage ecosystems. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology that selectively and efficiently transforms plastics into chemical products for use in high value applications. This approach employs catalysis and chemical conversions to break the long carbon chains of polymer macromolecules. This program will seek to understand how the parameters and reaction conditions that affect the chemical transformation also affect the commercial opportunities and limitation of such conversions, as well as other factors that must be considered for innovation of the technology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.