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Advancements in Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste: A Sustainable Path Forward

Author: Dr. Ahmad Saylam

Document type: Open technical preprint

Version: v1

Publication date:

Technical status: Structured narrative review and technology overview. It supports orientation and early-stage comparison of chemical-recycling routes, but it is not a validated process model, life-cycle assessment, final plant design or industrial performance guarantee.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19438550

Zenodo record: https://zenodo.org/records/19438551

Abstract

Plastic waste represents a persistent global environmental challenge due to its durability, accumulation in ecosystems and contribution to microplastic pollution. Conventional mechanical recycling methods face significant limitations when processing mixed, contaminated or degraded plastic streams, necessitating complementary approaches.

This paper provides a structured overview of chemical-recycling technologies for plastic-waste management. Key processes—including pyrolysis, gasification and depolymerization—are examined in terms of their operating principles, treatment conditions, feedstock suitability and product outputs. These methods can convert selected plastic wastes into fuels, monomers and chemical intermediates, supporting resource recovery within a circular-economy framework.

The analysis highlights the potential of chemical recycling to treat complex waste streams and recover useful products. It also identifies major limitations related to energy demand, process efficiency, feedstock contamination, product purification, economic scalability and integration with existing waste-management systems.

Chemical recycling is therefore best considered as one component of an integrated waste-management strategy rather than a universal substitute for prevention, reuse or mechanical recycling. Continued research, process validation and system-level optimization are needed to establish environmental and economic viability for specific feedstocks and products.

Principal routes covered

Pyrolysis

Thermal conversion in the absence of oxygen can produce hydrocarbon vapours, liquids, gases and solid residues. Product quality depends strongly on polymer composition, contamination, temperature, residence time, reactor configuration and downstream upgrading.

Gasification

Partial oxidation at elevated temperature can convert carbonaceous plastic waste into a synthesis-gas mixture. Practical deployment requires gas cleaning, tar and contaminant management, heat integration and a defined downstream use for the gas.

Depolymerization

Chemical or catalytic cleavage can recover monomers or oligomers from suitable condensation polymers. Performance is feedstock-specific and depends on polymer purity, solvent or reagent use, catalyst choice, separation requirements and product specifications.

Scope and evidence boundary

The review supports technology orientation, preliminary pathway comparison, identification of feedstock and product questions and definition of focused laboratory, modelling or pilot work.

Application to a specific plastic-waste stream requires verified composition and contamination data, experimentally supported yields and product quality, kinetic and transport analysis, complete mass and energy balances, emissions and residue characterization, separation and upgrading design, process-safety assessment and representative pilot validation.

Environmental benefit should be evaluated against a clearly defined reference system using a complete process boundary. Chemical conversion alone does not establish circularity, lower greenhouse-gas impact or economic feasibility.

Full text

License

The deposited paper identifies the work as available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence .

Recommended citation

Saylam, A. (2024). Advancements in Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste: A Sustainable Path Forward. Version v1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19438550