Flexi-pyrocat: A EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie action project on the flexible pyrolysis-catalysis processing of waste plastics for selective production of high value products

A recent EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action project, FLEXI-PYROCAT, has been awarded to develop a two-stage pyrolysis-catalytic process that allows flexible processing of waste plastics to selectively target and produce high value products - (i) hydrogen, (ii) carbon nanotubes, (iii) chemicals or (iv) gasoline. The project supports staff exchanges of experienced and early career researchers between the EU partner Universities in the UK and Hungary with world leading universities in China and Australia. Pyrolysis technologies are not suitable for all types of wastes. However, the introduction of catalysts into the process can play a critical role in the thermochemical processing of waste plastics in terms of promoting targeted reactions, reducing reaction temperature and improving whole process efficiency. Technology which combines a first stage pyrolysis where the plastics are thermally degraded to produce volatile products which are then passed directly to a second separate catalytic stage has enormous potential; by careful selection of the correct catalyst and the catalytic process conditions the plant operator can then direct the process towards a flexible range of high value products