Plastic Waste Valorization: Prospects for Green Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Plastic waste is a current issue worldwide that is already negatively influencing and threatening the lives of human beings, with residual micro- and nanoplastics entering water and soil bodies inducing recalcitrant pollution and health issues. The proposed perspective has been aimed to provide an overview of the potential of plastic waste valorization to green hydrogen and carbonaceous nanostructures. The overall concept additionally includes the utilization of the generated carbonaceous nanostructures to design advanced functional materials in combination with the obtained green hydrogen from plastic waste in a number of batch-to-flow catalytic hydrogenations to close the circle of sustainable integrated valorization of plastic waste. The concept also includes insightful Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) and techno-economic studies in order to select the most relevant lines from the sustainability and cost-competitive standpoints.