Advancing Chemical Recycling of Waste Plastics

Unlike glass, which is infinitely recyclable, plastic recycling is challenging and expensive because of the material’s complex molecular structure designed for specific needs. New research from the lab of Giannis Mpoumpakis, Associate Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, focuses on optimizing a promising technology called pyrolysis, which can chemically recycle waste plastics into more valuable chemicals.