Plastic takes a long time to decompose and is therefore a big problem for the environment. Scientists of the Perm Polytechnic Institute proposed one of the ways to reduce the volume of waste – to process it into diesel fuel and feedstock for petrochemicals.
In particular, scientists were interested in polymer waste. More than half of them are polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Currently, oil refineries use catalytic cracking units to produce high-octane gasoline, gas oil and other products. During this process, heavy hydrocarbon molecules are heated and broken down into light ones. The idea of scientists is to add plastic waste to this raw material.
Experiments have shown that polyethylene can be recycled with little or no loss in process efficiency.
