Chemical Recycling of Waste Plastics: What Are the Available Approaches?

Chemical recycling of waste plastics stands as one of the key technologies addressing plastic pollution today, enabling not only high-value utilization of waste plastics but also serving as a critical pathway to advance the plastic circular economy. It represents an important supplement to physical recycling methods for waste plastic treatment.  

Currently, chemical recycling of waste plastics primarily encompasses the following three approaches:  

1. Pyrolysis  

  Conducted in high-temperature, oxygen-free or oxygen-deficient environments, this process breaks down the high-molecular polymers in plastics into oil and gas. It boasts a broad processing scope, capable of handling mixed and contaminated waste plastics with low feedstock requirements, and achieves a high degree of resource recovery, yielding products such as pyrolysis oil and gas that can be used as fuel or chemical feedstocks.  

2. Catalytic Conversion/Hydrogenolysis  

  Utilizing catalysts and hydrogen, this method selectively cleaves the molecular chains of polyolefin plastics (e.g., PE) into specific products such as ethylene, propylene, aviation kerosene, or naphtha. Some variants of this technology can operate under medium to low temperatures, enhancing process flexibility.  

3. Catalytic Depolymerization  

  This approach employs catalysts and oxidizers under mild conditions to depolymerize plastics. It offers an environmentally friendly solution for challenging plastics like PVC, as it can be conducted in aqueous phases with lower carbon emissions and operational costs.  

Among these three methods, pyrolysis requires the lowest feedstock specifications and is currently the most widely applied, recognized, and mainstream form of chemical recycling. It converts plastics into fuel via pyrolysis equipment, enabling a closed-loop process from waste plastics to oil and further to new plastics, primarily through continuous pyrolysis systems.  

In the field of pyrolysis technology, the Chinese company Niutech has distinguished itself as a global industry benchmark.  

With nearly four decades of dedicated technological development and continuous innovation, Niutech has focused extensively on the pyrolysis sector, independently developing eight core technologies and over 100 patents. It has overcome industry-wide challenges related to achieving "long-term, stable, and continuous operation" under "safe and environmentally compliant" conditions.  

Niutech's equipment not only features low processing costs and high resource recovery rates but, more importantly, ensures industrialized, long-term, stable, and continuous operation—key factors in earning market trust.  

Niutech's pyrolysis equipment has obtained seven international authoritative certifications, including EU CE, German TÜV, and ATEX explosion-proof certification, successfully breaking through stringent technical trade barriers in developed countries and paving the way for global sales. Its pyrolysis systems have been exported to dozens of countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Korea. Notably, its equipment-supported waste plastic project in Denmark gained recognition from chemical giant BASF, and recent repeat orders from European clients—including a major RMB 198 million contract from the UK—strongly demonstrate its competitiveness in the international market.  

At this crucial stage of global circular economy development, converting waste into resources and energy is a universal challenge being actively addressed by multiple countries and regions. Scientific waste-to-energy solutions represent a vital measure for tackling pollution and advancing the circular economy.