On 29 August 2024, the kick-off meeting of the LEI-coordinated project E-Pla2Meth (Plastic waste conversion to methanol through water vapor plasma gasification and advanced catalytic synthesis) took place at the Lithuanian Energy Institute.
The increasing consumerism leads to rising amounts of plastic waste, and it is estimated that 6.3 billion tons of this waste were generated globally up to 2018. Plastic waste is a high concern in the Nordic and Baltic states, as 70% of waste found in the Baltic Sea is plastic. For this reason, a lot of efforts are made to catch trash from the water and utilize it in a waste-to-energy pathway through incineration. However, increasing amounts of plastic waste for incineration lead to higher emissions of CO2. Considering the European Green Deal and Nordic Vision 2030 targets, this project will demonstrate the concept of two intensified processes for the conversion of plastic wastes into methanol via water vapor plasma-assisted gasification and sorption-enhanced methanol synthesis (Plasma-Gasification-SEM).
The aim of the project is to efficiently convert plastic waste to green methanol. The efficient conversion of plastic waste to methanol requires extensive knowledge of material sciences, thermochemical processes, and process intensification. To build-up this knowledge in the partner countries, detailed scientific work involving experimental studies of
investigation of the plasma-assisted gasification application on plastic (LDPE/HDPE/mix) conversion to syngas using different gasifying agents (water vapor, water vapor/CO2) and determination of optimal parameters for achieving the highest H2/CO ratio; and development of the catalyst and sorbent material for Sorption-Enhanced Methanol Synthesis (SEMS) with high CO2 hydrogenation activity, high water adsorption capacity and showing stability over 20 multiple synthesis-regeneration cycles, suitable for raw syngas.
The project is jointly implemented with Norwegian partners Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), and Feenix Resource Recovery AS (Geo4), whose representatives attended the project meeting. The project coordinator Rolandas Paulauskas welcomed the participants, gave a brief introduction to the LEI activities and presented the project structure with an overview of the main aspects, budget, work and dissemination plan. The meeting also heard presentations from representatives of IFE and GEO4 on the activities carried out by their institutions and the implementation of the assigned work packages. The discussion focused on the implementation of the project activities and the dissemination of results.
The project “Plastic waste conversion to methanol through water vapor plasma gasification and advanced catalytic synthesis (No. 189738)” is funded by Nordic Energy Research and the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania under the Joint Baltic–Nordic Energy Research Programme.
More information at: https://www.lei.lt/en/projektas/e-pla2meth/
Project coordinator: Dr. Rolandas Paulauskas, Chief Research Associate, e-mail: Rolandas.Paulauskas@lei.lt Tel: +370 37 401830.
