Extracting Hydrogen and Chemical Fuels Efficiently from Waste Plastics

Energy Technology Research Institute Signs Technology Transfer Agreement with Hanwha Construction to Begin Full-Scale Commercialization

Korea Institute of Energy Research Hwaam Campus Gasification Plant.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Domestic researchers have succeeded in domesticating gasification technology capable of producing hydrogen and chemical raw materials from waste plastics.

The Korea Institute of Energy Research announced on the 24th that Dr. Raho Won's research team at the Clean Fuel Research Laboratory succeeded in developing a process to produce syngas by gasifying waste plastic pyrolysis oil.

The research team domesticated technology that transforms waste plastic pyrolysis oil, which had limited applications until now, into high value-added chemical raw materials such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Waste plastic pyrolysis oil refers to the oil produced during the process of heating and decomposing waste plastics in an oxygen-free environment.

Waste plastics are currently disposed of by landfill and incineration, but these methods have limitations such as area restrictions, contamination of surface and groundwater, and environmental pollution caused by incomplete combustion during incineration. Accordingly, gasification technology that can environmentally and highly value-add waste plastics (into power generation fuel, basic chemical substances) is emerging. As of 2016, the amount of plastic waste generated per Korean per year was 88 kg, ranking third in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom.

Based on the gasification process technology know-how accumulated since the early 2000s using hydrocarbon raw materials such as coal and biomass, the research team succeeded in developing gasification technology for waste plastic pyrolysis oil. It can produce syngas with a hydrogen and carbon monoxide generation ratio of over 90%. Waste plastic pyrolysis oil is incompletely combusted with limited oxygen steam in a high-temperature, high-pressure gasifier to produce syngas (Syngas) mainly composed of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). The produced syngas can be purified, converted, and separated to produce hydrogen. By utilizing the gasification process, waste plastic pyrolysis oil, which previously had limited uses, can be used to produce a wide range of high value-added derivatives from basic and specialty chemicals to power generation fuel and electricity production.

It was confirmed that due to the characteristics of pyrolysis, such as high calorific value and low ash content, the gasification process can produce high-quality syngas with a hydrogen and carbon monoxide generation ratio of over 90%.

Meanwhile, on the morning of the same day, the institute signed a technology transfer agreement on 'know-how for gasifier design and operation' with Hanwha Construction at its headquarters in Daejeon and began commercialization.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.