Going back as far as his undergraduate education, Greg Liu knew the scientific problem he aimed to solve — chemical and plastic pollution. A long research project encompassing five or six years finally led to a breakthrough with Liu and his team of students finding a way to convert certain plastics into soaps, detergents, lubricants, and other products. The article Liu wrote about the process and the feasibility and commercialization of it was recently published in Nature Sustainability.
Liu's system has two steps. First, it uses heat to break down plastic in a process called thermolysis. The plastic is heated in a reactor to 650-750°F, breaking it into oil, gas, and solids. The goal is to break down the plastic molecules (polypropylene and polyethylene) within a specific carbon range, which Liu's team successfully did.
The residual solids left behind from this process are minimal, and the gas from the process could be captured and used as fuel. It is the oil left behind that Liu was able to functionalize and convert into molecules and then into soaps, detergents, lubricants, and other products.
This process has extreme potential, and provides clues to solving the larger plastic pollution problem that threatens our environment. Check out the episode of “Curious Conversations,” a Virginia Tech podcast, for more of the full story.