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  1. A Kinetic Model-Driven Techno-Economic Analysis of Plastic Pyrolysis: Linking Process Dynamics to Economic Viability

    Zaker Hosseiny, Farhad ; Shi, Rui - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
    This study employs a kinetic model integrated into Aspen Plus to predict pyrolysis product distribution under various conditions. A techno-economic assessment calculated the minimum selling price (MSP) of pyrolysis oil under different operating conditions for the baseline capacity of 100 kta, and across eight processing capacities ranging from 30 to 150 kta. The lowest MSP under the baseline capacity is estimated at $$\$$$$420/ton, which is 33% lower than the 2023 average US crude oil price ($$\$$$$74.6/bbl, equivalent to $$\$$$$634/ton based on the density of pyrolysis oil). Under Monte Carlo simulation, accounting for variability in key economic and technical parameters, themore » mean MSP is estimated at $$\$$$$1137/ton. The economic viability depends on feedstock price remaining below $$\$$$$320/ton, defining the break-even feedstock price threshold. Sensitivity analysis further identifies capital investment and transportation cost as key economic drivers. Capacities beyond 90 kta show limited economies of scale benefits. Reducing product storage time cuts capital costs by 7% but raises operational risk. Uncertainty analysis suggests the economic feasibility of pyrolysis oil is unlikely to compete with crude oil without policy incentives.« less

  2. Glass-Bonded Monazite Waste Forms for Lanthanide and Actinide Immobilization: From Theoretical Design to Scale-Up Production and Characterization

    Peterson, Miroslava ; Riley, Brian J. ; Lu, Xiaonan ; ... - ACS Omega
    The development of nuclear waste forms for both existing and future nuclear wastes is critical to ensuring global environmental safety. This study focuses on waste management from molten salt reactors, where fuel exists in a salt form and could be processed in real time for the removal of neutron poisons such as xenon isotopes (e.g., 135Xe) and rare earth elements (REEs, e.g., 149Sm). To ensure safe, stable, and long-term disposal in geological repositories, REEs must be incorporated into a durable waste form. Iron-phosphate glasses are a promising candidate due to their low melting points, high chemical durability, and their abilitymore » to incorporate high concentrations of REEs. In this study, we successfully prepared iron-phosphate glass waste forms with high Nd loadings (up to 37 mass %) in batch sizes ranging from small (23 g) to large (1600 g). The resulting materials contained up to 75 mass % NdPO4, contributing to their mechanical resilience and exceptional chemical durability. These findings highlight the potential of iron-phosphate glasses as high-efficiency, chemically durable waste forms and demonstrate the successful transition from theoretical design to scaled-up production.« less

  3. Correction to “Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollutant Emissions from Composting”

    Nordahl, Sarah L. ; Preble, Chelsea V. ; Kirchstetter, Thomas W. ; ... - Environmental Science & Technology
    Composting can divert organic waste from landfills, reduce landfill methane emissions, and recycle nutrients back to soils. However, the composting process is also a source of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. Researchers, regulators, and policy decision-makers all rely on emissions estimates to develop local emissions inventories and weigh competing waste diversion options, yet reported emission factors are difficult to interpret and highly variable. This review explores the impacts of waste characteristics, pretreatment processes, and composting conditions on CO2, CH4, N2O, NH3, and VOC emissions by critically reviewing and analyzing 388 emission factors from 46 studies. The values reported tomore » date suggest that CH4 is the single largest contributor to 100-year global warming potential (GWP100) for yard waste composting, comprising approximately 80% of the total GWP100. For nitrogen-rich wastes including manure, mixed municipal organic waste, and wastewater treatment sludge, N2O is the largest contributor to GWP100, accounting for half to as much as 90% of the total GWP100. If waste is anaerobically digested prior to composting, N2O, NH3, and VOC emissions tend to decrease relative to composting the untreated waste. Effective pile management and aeration are key to minimizing CH4 emissions. However, forced aeration can increase NH3 emissions in some cases.« less

  4. Pelletization with Spark Plasma Sintering and Characterization of Metal Iodides: An Assessment of Long-Term Radioiodine Immobilization Options

    Oshiro, Jared M. ; Fujii Yamagata, Alessandra Lie ; Sharma, Saurabh Kumar ; ... - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
    Four promising iodine “getter” materials (Ag, Cu, Bi, and Sn) for radioiodine capture were assessed in their pure metal-iodide (MIx) pelletized forms to compare relative chemical durabilities. To study chemical durability, commercial MIx compounds of AgI, BiI3, BiOI, CuI, and SnI4 were converted to dense monolithic pellets using spark plasma sintering. Semidynamic leach testing in the form of modified ASTM C1308 tests was then performed on the pellets in two different forms including unmounted (as-pressed) specimens (i.e., “U”) and epoxy-mounted specimens (i.e., “M”) with polished surfaces. The chemical durability results and sample characterizations showed that three of the five MIxmore » compounds tested (i.e., AgI, CuI, and BiOI) displayed moderate to high leach resistances. Further, the remaining two MIx compounds (i.e., BiI3 and SnI4), which are both desirable iodine waste forms due to their high iodine loading capacities, readily decomposed during leach testing, indicated by crystallographic changes in the specimens as well as large amounts of iodine detected in the leachate solutions. The instabilities of BiI3 and SnI4 raise uncertainties for using the base metals/cations (i.e., Bi0/Bi3+ and Sn0/Sn4+, respectively) as viable getters for radioiodine capture due to likely poor waste form chemical durabilities after capture and consolidation into waste forms.« less

  5. Site Suitability and Air Pollution Impacts of Composting Infrastructure for California’s Organic Waste Diversion Law

    Harrison, Brendan P. ; McNeil, Wilson H. ; Dai, Tao ; ... - Environmental Science and Technology
    The emerging field of polaritonic chemistry explores the behavior of molecules under strong coupling with cavity modes. Despite recent developments in ab initio polaritonic methods for simulating polaritonic chemistry under electronic strong coupling, their capabilities are limited, especially in cases where the molecule also features strong electronic correlation. To bridge this gap, we have developed a novel method for cavity QED calculations utilizing the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) algorithm in conjunction with the Pauli–Fierz Hamiltonian. Our approach is applied to investigate the effect of the cavity on the S0–S1 transition of n-oligoacenes, with n ranging from 2 to 5,more » encompassing 22 fully correlated π orbitals in the largest pentacene molecule. Our findings indicate that the influence of the cavity intensifies with larger acenes. Additionally, we demonstrate that, unlike the full determinantal representation, DMRG efficiently optimizes and eliminates excess photonic degrees of freedom, resulting in an asymptotically constant computational cost as the photonic basis increases.« less

  6. Tailoring Pore Architecture and Heteroatom Functionality of Polymeric Waste-Derived Nanoporous Carbon for CO2 Capture Applications

    Pattanshetti, Akshata ; Koli, Amruta ; Jadhav, Vidhya ; ... - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
    This study proposes upcycling polymeric waste, i.e., waste floral foam, into high-performance nanoporous carbon that efficiently captures CO2. This paper presents strategies for improving the properties of nanoporous carbon, which aid in a superior CO2 capture performance. Initially, pristine nanoporous carbon was produced from waste floral foam using various KOH impregnation ratios. The nanoporous carbon with a 1:2 (waste floral foam:KOH) ratio exhibiting optimal CO2 capture capability was further advanced through single and dual atom doping. The doping of N and codoping of N,S atoms into the nanoporous carbon altered its textural and surface chemical properties, making them efficient formore » CO2 capture. Comparative CO2 capture studies of pristine nanoporous carbon (NC-x), N-doped nanoporous carbon (N-NC2), and N,S-codoped nanoporous carbon (N,S-NC2) demonstrate the superiority of N-doping. N-doped nanoporous carbon exhibited the largest ultramicroporosity (0.3100 cm3/g, 63.43%) and highest heteroatom content (34.94 atomic %), contributing to its enhanced CO2 capture capability (4.54 mmol/g). Finally, implementing the “waste-to-depollution” approach, this research lays the groundwork for producing low-cost, environmentally friendly nanoporous carbon with remarkable CO2 capture attributes.« less

  7. Catalytic Upgrading of Pyrolysis Condensables from Postconsumer Polyolefins Using HZSM-5

    Brown, Jessica L. ; Radhakrishnan, Harish ; Coffman, Isabel ; ... - Energy and Fuels
    The conversion of plastic wastes to monomeric olefins is an attractive means for achieving a plastic circular economy. In our study, a fluidized bed reactor converts post-consumer waste high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) to mostly condensed pyrolysis waxes and some oils, preventing carbon loss to gases. The pyrolysis condensables were upgraded to light olefins (C2–C5) at carbon yields greater than 76 wt % using the HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst at a post pyrolysis process that employed a micropyrolyzer. These results were comparable to olefin monomer yields from direct ex situ catalytic pyrolysis of the original waste plastics without condensing themore » vapors, highlighting the potential applicability of this approach in plastic waste recycling. Our results suggest that a centralized catalytic upgrading facility fed by pyrolysis condensables sourced from distributed thermochemical processing plants is a promising pathway to a circular economy. Such an approach enables utilization of available catalytic cracking infrastructure while focusing on setting up distributed thermochemical processing plants close to material recovery facilities. As a result, the energy-dense pyrolysis waxes are more suitable for transportation, contributing to the overall scalability and economic viability of the proposed distributed approach.« less

  8. Industrial and Laboratory Technologies for the Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste

    Chin, Mason T. ; Diao, Tianning - ACS Catalysis

  9. Learning from Tomorrow’s Recyclers: Extension of Hands-on Recycled Waste Activity

    Herrera Monegro, Ronard ; Gonzales, Kira E. ; Graham, Savannah R. ; ... - Journal of Chemical Education

  10. Correction to “Disentangling the History of Deep Ocean Disposal for DDT and Other Industrial Waste Off Southern California”

    Schmidt, Jacob T. ; Wu, Mong Sin Christine ; Kittner, Hailie E. ; ... - Environmental Science and Technology
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