New Solar Powered Technology can Transform Plastic Waste into Sustainable Fuels

There has been some exciting news on solar-powered technology this year. Recent studies show that scientists have developed a way of transforming plastic waste and greenhouse gases into valuable, sustainable fuels using solar power.

This was discovered by researchers at the University of Cambridge, and they developed a system that converts waste into chemical products using renewable energy, such as syngas and glycolic acid.

Professor Erwin Reisner from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry says, “converting waste into something useful using solar energy is a major goal of our research”.

During the process, CO2 is transformed into syngas, which is a component of sustainable liquid fuels, and plastic bottles are turned into glycolic acid, which is widely used in the cosmetics industry. The sustainable fuels produced during this process can also be used in a wide range of industries. Co-author Dr Motiar Rahaman says that “CO2 conversions require a lot of energy, but with our system, basically you just shine a light at it, and it starts converting harmful products into something useful and sustainable”.

Chemical recycling previously required extremely high temperatures, which was costly and inefficient, but this new solar-powered system could change this.

This is a revolutionary discovery as this is the first-time sustainable fuels have been produced from solar power. This process could be the answer to a once costly and inefficient process and could pave the way for many more solar-powered discoveries and a more sustainable economy. The researchers hope that in the upcoming years, they can discover similar techniques and someday develop and solar-powered recycling plant.

 

Here at Rayda, we are mindful of the materials we use when creating our extrusion products. For more information about our process or any general plastic enquiries, please contact us today.