The DOI matches its Crossref record; 187 of the 191 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Mechanical and chemical recycling of solid plastic waste
Abstract
This review presents a comprehensive description of the current pathways for recycling of polymers, via both mechanical and chemical recycling. The principles of these recycling pathways are framed against current-day industrial reality, by discussing predominant industrial technologies, design strategies and recycling examples of specific waste streams. Starting with an overview on types of solid plastic waste (SPW) and their origins, the manuscript continues with a discussion on the different valorisation options for SPW. The section on mechanical recycling contains an overview of current sorting technologies, specific challenges for mechanical recycling such as thermo-mechanical or lifetime degradation and the immiscibility of polymer blends. It also includes some industrial examples such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling, and SPW from post-consumer packaging, end-of-life vehicles or electr(on)ic devices. A separate section is dedicated to the relationship between design and recycling, emphasizing the role of concepts such as Design from Recycling. The section on chemical recycling collects a state-of-the-art on techniques such as chemolysis, pyrolysis, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrogen techniques and gasification. Additionally, this review discusses the main challenges (and some potential remedies) to these recycling strategies and ground them in the relevant polymer science, thus providing an academic angle as well as an applied one.
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“In a real-life sorting of mixed plastic waste streams, separation occurs physically by sink-flow density separation or mechanical sorting after NIR analysis. 10”
From Closed-loop recycling of polyethylene-like materials (2021) · cites this paper as [10]
Citations
Cites
Thermodynamics of High Polymer Solutions
Flory, P., & Krigbaum, W. R. (1941) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/1.1723621 · Cited by 4,126
Plastics Recycling: Challenges and Opportunities
Hopewell, J., Dvorak, R., & Kosior, E. (2009) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0311 · Cited by 3,201
Recycling and recovery routes of plastic solid waste (PSW): A review
Al-Salem, S. M., Lettieri, P., & Baeyens, J. (2009) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2009.06.004 · Cited by 2,419
Utracki, L. A. (2003) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/0-306-48244-4 · Cited by 1,112
Use of recycled plastic in concrete: A review
Siddique, R., Khatib, J., & Kaur, I. (2007) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2007.09.011 · Cited by 1,109
Awaja, F., & Pavel, D. (2005) · European Polymer Journal · doi:10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2005.02.005 · Cited by 1,102
Thermal degradation of PVC: A review
Yu, J., Sun, L., Ma, C., Qiao, Y., & Yao, H. (2015) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2015.11.041 · Cited by 1,074
Thermochemical Biomass Gasification: A Review of the Current Status of the Technology
Kumar, A., V, Jones, D. D., & Hanna, M. A. (2009) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en20300556 · Cited by 925
Strategies for compatibilization of polymer blends
Koning, C. E. (1998) · Progress in Polymer Science · doi:10.1016/s0079-6700(97)00054-3 · Cited by 913
Review and analysis of biomass gasification models
Puig-Arnavat, M., Bruno, J. C., & Coronas, A. (2010) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2010.07.030 · Cited by 870
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4 of the 191 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Al-Salem, S., Lettieri, P., Baeyens, J., 2009b. Thermal treatment of different grades and types of Polyethylene (PE) wasted articles. In: Proceedings of 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering Montreal (Quebec), pp. 1–4.
- Beyler, 2002, Thermal decomposition of polymers, SFPE Handb. Fire Protect. Eng., 2, 110
Cited by
Sorted by citations
An engineered PET depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles
Tournier, V., Topham, C. M., Gilles, A., David, B., Folgoas, C., Moya-Leclair, E., Kamionka, E., Desrousseaux, M.-L., Texier, H., Gavalda, S., et al. (2020) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2149-4 · Cited by 2,176
Beyond Mechanical Recycling: Giving New Life to Plastic Waste
Vollmer, I., Jenks, M. J. F., Roelands, M. C. P., White, R. J., van Harmelen, T., de Wild, P., van der Laan, G. P., Meirer, F., Keurentjes, J. T. F., & Weckhuysen, B. M. (2020) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201915651 · Cited by 1,905
Mechanical Recycling of Packaging Plastics: A Review
Schyns, Z. O. G., & Shaver, M. P. (2020) · Macromolecular Rapid Communications · doi:10.1002/marc.202000415 · Cited by 1,815
Chemical recycling to monomer for an ideal, circular polymer economy
Coates, G. W., & Getzler, Y. D. Y. L. (2020) · Nature Reviews Materials · doi:10.1038/s41578-020-0190-4 · Cited by 1,644
Critical advances and future opportunities in upcycling commodity polymers
Jehanno, C., Alty, J. W., Roosen, M., Meester, S. D., Dove, A. P., Chen, E. Y. ‐., Leibfarth, F. A., & Sardón, H. (2022) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04350-0 · Cited by 1,375
Metadata
- Authors
- Ragaert, K., Delva, L., & Van Geem, K.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Ragaert, Kim
- Venue
- Waste Management
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-11
- Volume
- 69
- Pages
- 24-58
- ISSN
- 0956-053X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2749550903
- Semantic Scholar
- f8a9cccee3f8a964641f4253e6d9965dfee0a17d
- Cited by
- 3,276
- References
- 191
- Citations by year
- 2026: 531 · 2025: 598 · 2024: 505 · 2023: 486 · 2022: 397 · 2021: 347 · 2020: 235 · 2019: 111 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 8.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Waste Management (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Waste Management and Recycling
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
- Keywords
- mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, polymer recycling, thermomechanical degradation, PET recycling, post-consumer packaging, end-of-life vehicles, electronic waste, design for recycling, chemolysis, pyrolysis, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrogen-induced cracking, gasification, waste valorization
- MeSH terms
- Plastics, Polyethylene Terephthalates, Polymers, Product Packaging, Recycling, Solid Waste
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