Researchers have created a device to convert plastic trash and greenhouse gases into sustainable fuels and other useful items using solar energy.
According to Science Daily, the team from the University of Cambridge built a device that can transform two waste streams into two chemical products simultaneously, which is the first time this has been accomplished in a solar-powered reactor.
How the Solar-Powered Reactor Works
The reactor transforms carbon dioxide (CO2) and polymers into various products that may be used in various industries. CO2 was turned into syngas, a crucial component of sustainable liquid fuels, and plastic bottles were converted into glycolic acid, widely used in the cosmetics sector in testing.
By modifying the type of catalyst employed in the reactor, the system may readily be tweaked to yield different products. The reactor uses solar power to convert plastics and greenhouse gases into usable and valued products, a vital step toward a more sustainable, circular economy.
The paper's senior author, Professor Erwin Reisner from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, said that converting waste into useful products using only solar energy is a major goal of their research. He noted that plastic pollution is one of the world's huge problems, as many often throw them and end up being incinerated or in a landfill.
Reisner is also the head of the Cambridge Circular Plastics Center (CirPlas), which works toward eliminating plastic waste by combining blue-sky thinking with practical measures.
The solar-powered system promises to address plastic pollution and reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The paper's co-author Subhajit Bhattacharjee added that the technology is a game-changer in developing a circular economy.
The findings of the study, titled "Photoelectrochemical CO2-to-fuel conversion with simultaneous plastic reforming," were published in the journal Nature Synthesis.
What's Special in this Device?
Bhattacharjee noted that what makes this system unique is its adaptability and tunability. As Yahoo! News reported, the solar-powered system currently produces pretty simple carbon-based chemicals, but in the future, the system can be adjusted to produce considerably more complicated products simply by altering the catalyst.
The system solves two of humanity's primary environmental issues today: waste plastics and greenhouse emissions. Using solar energy to power the process helps to reduce additional emissions that traditional power sources would otherwise emit.
According to PV Magazine, the Cambridge team chose a light absorber based on perovskite technology over typical silicon-based solar cells. The reactor's perovskite-based photocathode was chosen because it integrates several CO2-reduction catalysts.
Over the next five years, the Cambridge team hopes to improve the reactor to manufacture more complicated compounds. According to the researchers, similar technologies may be utilized to create a fully solar-powered recycling factory.
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