Dr Hui Luo - University of Surrey

Research Fellowships 2024

The accumulation of plastic waste is a severe environmental challenge worldwide. Although recycling processes, such as thermomechanical, are in place for plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the physical and chemical properties are significantly compromised after several cycles, and eventually reach end-of-life and end up in landfill. The ultimate way to achieve 100% recycling rate is to close the loop by recovering the petro-based monomers from end-of-life plastics for virgin-grade manufacturing. Yet such chemical recycling methods do not exist at industrial scale yet.

Through the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship, Dr Hui Luo will tackle this engineering challenge by developing a catalytic mechanochemical plastic upcycling process that can effectively cleave long-chain polymers. Working under solid-state, this process also reduces more than 95% of hazardous solvent consumption. In her work at the University of Surrey, she will (i) develop an optimised catalytic mechanochemical reaction protocol with rationally designed zeolite catalysts to effectively break down PET into monomer terephthalic acid and byproduct ethylene glycol. 

With this ethylene glycol, she will then (ii) design an electrolyser device using a gold-based electrocatalyst as anode, to achieve ampere-level H₂ production for chemical industry decarbonisation. This will simultaneously generate glycolic acid creating additional profit.

Applying a range of characterisation tools will (iii) reveal the key descriptors that govern the materials’ catalytic performance and further guide materials design. Subsequently, (iv) an integrated system coupling the depolymerisation and electrolysis will be engineered to evaluate the scale-up feasibility and the economic performance of the technology.

Finally, the knowledge obtained from PET will be used to (v) recover hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid monomers from Nylon 66, a widely used plastic with a global annual production over 8 million tonnes and less than 1% recycling rate. The delivery of this ambitious research project is reinforced by the wide collaborative network developed with UK plastic recycling and chemical industries, national facilities, and interdisciplinary academics.

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