(473e) Advanced Oxidative Degradation of Polyethylene for Sustainable Upcycling

Plastic has been a global environmental issue due to its slow degradation rate in the environment and its negative impacts towards soil and aquatic systems. The objective of this research is to establish an innovative technology for sustainable upcycling of polyethylene, the most common plastic in use today. Our approach to achieve this objective is to systemically investigate the combination of two of the most promising advanced oxidation techniques: Photocatalytic oxidation and ozonation to degrade polyethylene into fragments with different chemical functional groups that can be used as feedstock for filamentous fungi to produce high value products. For enhancing the degradation, zinc oxide nanopowder was coated with graphene and was used as photocatalyst. The preliminary analysis showed varied degrees of weight degradation of pure low density polyethylene with the formation of carbon oxygen double bonds. We will optimize the advanced oxidation conditions and systematically characterize the oxidation products using various analytical techniques including GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography), GCMS (Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry), HPLC (High-performance liquid chromatography) and NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Spectroscopy.