A process for converting solid plastic waste to hydrocarbon oil includes melting a feed comprising solid plastic waste to produce a liquefied plastic stream and visbreaking the liquefied plastic stream in a visbreaker unit having a visbreaker furnace and a soaker vessel. Visbreaking includes heating the liquefied plastic stream in the visbreaker furnace to produce a heated liquefied plastic stream, maintaining the heated liquefied plastic stream at the reaction temperature in the soaker vessel for a residence time to produce a visbreaker effluent, and injecting a stripping gas into the soaker vessel. The stripping gas includes at least one of steam, nitrogen, helium, argon, or combinations of these. The process includes introducing the stripping gas to the liquefied plastic stream upstream of the visbreaker furnace, the heated liquefied plastic stream downstream of the visbreaker furnace, or both. The visbreaker effluent is separated to produce a liquid hydrocarbon oil.

The present invention relates to a method of treating waste material using superheated steam in an apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a treatment vessel comprising a treatment zone wherein at least one steam inlet is located at one end of the treatment zone and at least one steam outlet is located at the opposite end of the treatment zone; the method comprising: a. a loading step, comprising loading the waste material at a temperature of less than 50 degrees C. into the treatment zone; b. a treatment step comprising: i. feeding superheated steam at a temperature of from 300 to 800 degrees C. into the treatment zone through the at least one steam inlet and ii. removing steam and any gaseous reaction products through the at least one steam outlet; and c. a removal step comprising removing any remaining solid product from the treatment vessel after the treatment step wherein apart from the superheated steam, any additional heating applied in the treatment zone during the treatment step raises the temperature of the treatment zone by 100 degrees C. or less.

A process for transforming a stream of MSW material into feedstock for an anaerobic digester and the resulting generation of biogas and other useful products includes the removal of one or more selected chlorine containing components and the retaining of substantially all paper components. At least 70% by mass of the incoming stream of MSW material is hydrolyzed and subsequently directed to the anaerobic digester.

Disclosed herein are an enzyme capable of degrading a highly recalcitrant plastic or a variant thereof, a composition comprising the same, and a method of degrading a highly recalcitrant plastic using the same. In addition, according to the present disclosure, polyethylene (PE) as a highly recalcitrant plastic can be effectively degraded as well as oxidized PE, which can be useful for developing plastic waste treatment and upcycling of plastic waste.

A method for recycling anode and/or cathode catalyst from the catalyst coated membranes comprising proton exchange membrane, a continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating comprising alternating layers of a polycation polymer and a polyanion polymer, an anode coating layer comprising anode catalyst particles, a cathode coating layer comprising cathode catalyst particles, and optionally a second continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating between the second surface of the proton exchange membrane and the cathode coating layer. The cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating between the proton exchange membrane and the anode and/or cathode catalyst coating layer is dissolved in an aqueous solution with a pH of greater than 7. The catalyst coated membrane is delaminated, and the anode and/or cathode catalyst is recovered.

A method for thermally decomposing a carbonaceous waste material including: filling a reactor defined by a reactor wall with the waste material and an auxiliary material, resulting in a reactor content, the auxiliary material including abrasive particles; heating the reactor contents in the absence of oxygen, such that gaseous products are formed by pyrolysis of the waste material and the abrasive particles do not melt or thermally decompose; moving the reactor contents during the pyrolysis, the moving being adapted to mix the reactor contents and to cause the abrasive particles to scrape over at least parts of the reactor wall. The auxiliary material has a composition to include a component adapted to bind halogens present in the gaseous products and/or so that the brittleness of the auxiliary material is greater than the brittleness of the reactor wall.

A plastic processing method includes the following steps: S1. the plastic to be treated is sent to a liquefaction unit for liquefaction treatment to produce a liquefied material; S2. subjecting the liquefied material to heat treatment in a viscosity reduction unit to reduce its viscosity to produce a viscosity-reduced liquefied material; S3. the viscosity-reduced liquefied material is sent to a cracking reaction unit for cracking reaction to produce a reaction product; S4. the reaction product is sent to a separation unit for separation treatment. The system for carrying out the plastic processing method has a liquefaction unit, a viscosity reduction unit, a cracking reaction unit, and a separation unit.

Provided herein are methods for degrading a combination of food stuffs and non-biodegradable food packaging, the method comprising: obtaining a combination of the food stuffs and non-biodegradable food packaging; contacting the combination of food stuffs and non-biodegradable food packaging with a superworm or mealworm; and incubating the combination of food stuffs and non-biodegradable food packaging and the superworm or mealworm under conditions in which the superworm or mealworm degrades both the food stuffs and non-biodegradable food packaging.