The latent potential of unrecyclable plastic waste to be put to better value-added uses has not be unlocked yet, but the potential is there.
The message comes from Ed VanDyne, CEO of US startup Plastic to Green, which has a proposition to use plasma-based technologies, using ionised gas, to convert all types of waste plastic into three key materials of real value: green ammonia, carbon black, and nitrogen-doped graphene.
What’s striking about this is the intrinsic value of these outputs, which make the economics of the whole venture look very strong on paper.
“Nitrogen-doped graphene is valued at about $2000 per gram today, with many essential uses in markets that are growing fast,” said VanDyne. “Carbon black, similarly, is a fine black powder made from elemental carbon and it has a growing list of valuable uses as a reinforcing agent. Green ammonia, of course, is a growing opportunity in energy if the price is right, and we have calculated that our production method will deliver it for about a third of the cost of green ammonia derived from water, once we have a full-scale facility.”
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