Scientists in the U.S. say they have found a way to convert waste plastic products into “very good quality” jet fuel.
The research, led by a group from Washington State University, also showed that waste plastic can be turned into diesel fuel.
Published in the journal Applied Energy, the study claimed it was possible to recover “almost 100% of the energy” contained in waste plastic.
Hanwu Lei and his colleagues at the university melted plastic waste – including the likes of milk bottles, plastic bags and water bottles – at temperatures of between 430C and 571C with activated carbon to produce the fuel.
"Waste plastic is a huge problem worldwide," Lei, an associate professor at the Department of Biological System Engineering, said.
"This is a very good, and relatively simple, way to recycle these plastics."
The process involved taking low-density polyethylene and a variety of waste plastic products and grinding them down to the size of a grain of rice.
Those small granules were then put on top of activated carbon – which worked as a reusable catalyst – and heated to high temperatures.
"Plastic is hard to break down," Lei said. "You have to add a catalyst to help break the chemical bonds. There is a lot of hydrogen in plastics, which is a key component in fuel."
The best result the team was able to achieve resulted in a mixture of 85% jet fuel and 15% diesel.
"We can recover almost 100% of the energy from the plastic we tested," Lei added.
"The fuel is very good quality, and the byproduct gasses produced are high quality and useful as well."
