先进的塑料回收技术可以显著减少对碳氢化合物的需求

中国石化新闻网讯 据油价网报道，纽约城市学院格罗夫工程学院日前发布了一份有关研究先进的塑料回收技术的新报告。新报告的结论是，先进的塑料循环利用有助于避免对气候的影响，减少对能源的需求，并为扩大循环经济提供关键工具。

这份新报告的标题是《先进的塑料回收技术现状下生命周期评价（LCA）的定量比较》。

这份新报告的作者是纽约城市学院地球工程中心(EEC)主任和化学工程教授马尔科· J·卡斯塔尔迪博士，以及EEC研究助理劳伦·克里亚多尔。这份新报告值得业内人士花时间阅读，单是行动纲要的内容就相当丰富。

新报告作者研究了13个最近完成的生命周期评价，发现先进的塑料回收技术可以将难以回收的塑料转化为碳足迹比新资源生产的产品更小的产品。 

与塑料垃圾填埋和废物转化能源等传统的生命终结方法相比，先进的塑料回收过程还减少了能源消耗和温室气体排放。先进的塑料回收技术的使用促进了所有13个生命周期评价中的塑料循环。

具体来说，新报告发现，先进的塑料回收技术可以：  

• 生产塑料和化工产品，与用原始资源生产的产品相比，它们的全球变暖潜力更低。  

• 与垃圾填埋相比，减少对化石能源资源的需求高达97%。  

• 考虑到对化学产品和能源的替代需求，与典型的使用寿命结束过程相比，减少超过100%的二氧化碳当量排放。  

卡斯塔尔迪说：“由于先进的塑料回收技术的效率越来越高，它将在实现全球可持续发展目标方面发挥重要作用。它可以将难以回收的塑料转化为大量高价值的原料，减少对化石资源的需求，并限制废物管理对环境的影响。同样重要的是，数据表明，我们向更循环经济的过渡将显著改善气候结果。” 

美国机械工程师学会（ASME）能源、环境和废物研究委员会的鲍勃·霍尔指出：“企业和政策制定者对先进的塑料回收技术有大量的投资和浓厚的兴趣。像纽约城市学院这样的科学研究，加上工程上的独创性，可以帮助告知并负责任地推动我们走向一个更可持续和更循环的未来。随着这些技术的成熟，必须对符合国际生命周期评价标准的先进塑料回收进行更多的研究。”

ASME材料和能源回收部门主席安内特·斯科托评论道：“ASME建议，拥有当前运行性能数据和可访问设施的技术应该优先用于未来的分析。”

这位谦卑的作者也许会加上这一点，这种结合了如此多早期作品的工作，强烈地说明了负责任的人应该加入到保持地球清洁和减少能源和燃料需求的行列中来。

垃圾填埋法实际上只是对懒惰问题的“拖延时间”的回答。也许有一天人们将自动负责地处理这些塑料垃圾。这是一个希望。 

李峻 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

Advanced Plastic Recycling Could Cut Need For Hydrocarbons Significantly

·     City College of New York Grove School of Engineering: advanced plastic recycling could save massive amounts of energy.

·     Recycling could also significantly cut emissions from plastic-making.

·     Hard-to-recycle plastics can be made into products with a smaller carbon footprint than those made from new resources.

City College of New York Grove School of Engineering released a new report which examined advanced plastic recycling. The report concluded that advanced recycling helps avoid climate impacts, reduces demand for energy resources, and offers key tools for expanding the circular economy.

The report is titled “Quantitative Comparison of LCAs on the Current State of Advanced Recycling Technologies.”

The report was authored by Dr. Marco J. Castaldi, professor of chemical engineering and director of CCNY’s Earth Engineering Center (EEC), and EEC research associate Lauren Creadore. The report is well worth your time, the Executive Summary alone is quite informative.

The authors examined 13 recently completed life cycle assessments (LCAs) and found that advanced recycling can transform hard-to-recycle plastics into products with a smaller carbon footprint than those made from new resources.

The processes also reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional end of life methods, such as landfilling and waste-to-energy. Use of advanced recycling contributed to circularity for plastics in all 13 LCAs.

Specifically, the report found that advanced recycling technologies can:

·     Produce plastic and chemical products with a reduced global warming potential compared to products made from virgin resources.

·     Reduce the need for fossil energy resources by up to 97% compared to landfilling.

·     Reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 100% compared to typical end-of-life processes when accounting for displaced demand for chemical products and energy.

Castaldi said, “As advanced recycling becomes increasingly efficient, it is poised to play a major role in achieving global sustainability goals. It can transform hard-to-recycle plastics into a multitude of high-value feedstocks, reducing the need for fossil resources and limiting the environmental impact of waste management. Equally important, the data suggest that our transition to a more circular economy will dramatically improve climate outcomes.”

Bob Hall at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Research Committee on Energy, Environment, and Waste noted, “There’s been significant investment and interest from companies and policymakers in advanced recycling. Scientific studies like this one from CCNY, coupled with engineering ingenuity can help inform and responsibly move us towards a more sustainable and circular future. As these technologies mature, it is imperative to conduct additional studies on advanced recycling that adhere to international LCA standards.”

Annette Scotto, ASME Chair of the Material and Energy Recovery Division commented, “ASME suggests that technologies that have current operating performance data and have a facility to visit should be given priority for future analyses.”

Your humble writer might add that this kind of work that incorporates so many earlier works strongly makes the case for responsible folks to get on board with keeping the planet clean and reducing our energy and fuel demands.

The landfill method is really only a “Buy Time” answer to a problem of laziness. Someday perhaps folks will automatically dispose of things responsibly. One hopes.

【来源：中石化新闻网】