The team led by Ariffin Bin Mohamad Annuar describes the reactor in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering. The module consists of a glass plate one meter square, onto which various coatings are sprayed. A light-absorbing layer and a catalyst layer containing cobalt and zirconium initiate the chemical reaction that breaks down plastic.
Manufacturing is simple: the layers are applied with a device similar to a paint spray gun. The reactor works under natural sunlight, as a test on campus showed. The researchers dipped the plate into a solution containing pre-treated plastic and placed it in the sun. “It surprised me how well it worked after all the optimizations,” said Mohamad Annuar. “We just take this large plate, spray our catalyst onto it, dip it into our solution, put it in the sun, and it produces hydrogen and other valuable chemicals from plastic waste.”
The process can break down a wide range of materials, from cellulose to PET, which is used in plastic bottles. Earlier prototypes only worked on a lab scale and required high temperatures or harsh chemicals. The new process has been patented, but before large-scale deployment, the researchers still need to improve durability and efficiency.
Source: www.heise.de
