How is it possible to turn plastic waste into hydrogen? Citizens’ problems have been resolved

Millions of tons of plastic waste generated every year around the world has now become a scourge. Plastic remains in the environment for hundreds of years, but now microwaves convert plastic into environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel.

Although chemists have been making hydrogen from plastic for years, the microwave process makes it easier and faster. The good thing is that it also consumes less energy.

Peter Edwards of the University of Oxford and his research colleagues reported that 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated each year in the UK alone, which is proving to be a stubborn pile of single-use plastics. If we talk regarding bags, they contain 14% hydrogen by weight. Thus, hydrogen can be derived from plastic as a fuel.
A common method is to heat the plastic waste to a very high temperature (750 degrees Celsius). It then becomes carbon dioxide, which is a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In the next step, these two gases are separated and hydrogen is extracted from it.

Instead of this lengthy process, Professor Peter grinds the plastic into a fine powder by putting it in an ordinary blender. Catalysts are then added, with iron oxide and aluminum oxide being the most prominent. After that, it was placed in a 1000 watt microwave generator. In this way, hydrogen gas started coming out from many places and in the whole process 97% of hydrogen came out. The process takes only a few seconds and thus cost-effectively turns plastic into hydrogen.

Now what was saved from this process also proved to be a useful item. These were carbon nanotubes that might be used in other applications. On this important achievement, Edward said that experimentally only 300 grams of plastic have been tested and in the next step several kilograms of hydrogen was distilled. It will then be tested on an industrial scale.