More than 5 billion pounds of plastic is recycled every year, but there are limitations: the cost to do so is often expensive, and plastic degrades over time, so it can only be recycled once or twice, creating opportunities for more practical alternatives.
Christopher Cooper, an assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at WashU McKelvey Engineering, is developing a two-step process to recycle pure and mixed plastics by breaking them down into pieces and rebuilding the pieces into new materials.
He will develop the process with a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy. The Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy program funds early-career scientists and engineers whose work can turn disruptive, unconventional, high-risk, high-reward ideas into transformative technologies.
Read more on the McKelvey Engineering website.
