{"id":4389,"date":"2024-11-20T16:09:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T15:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/synemic.net\/?post_type=news&#038;p=4389"},"modified":"2025-02-24T16:16:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:16:38","slug":"4389","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Plastic is inevitable in our daily lives. However, the enormous amount of plastic waste accumulating in landfills and the environment is just as serious an issue as useful plastic. In the journal <em>Angewandte Chemie<\/em>, a German research team introduced a new method for recycling polystyrene waste. Their efficient electrochemical process uses an inexpensive iron-based catalyst, produces hydrogen as a byproduct, and can be powered by solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Less than 10% of the plastic produced worldwide is recycled. Plastic waste accumulates in landfills and waterways, posing a threat to wildlife and the environment. It is projected that by 2025, the volume of accumulated plastic will reach 40 billion tons. Worldwide, about 33% of the material settling in landfills consists of polystyrene (PS), which is widely used in packaging and construction. Only about 1% of polystyrene is recycled. Global production capacity for polystyrene reached 15.4 million tons in 2022 and continues to rise. Recycling plastic, especially polystyrene, is one of the biggest social challenges of our time. Efficient, economically viable recycling methods that transform plastic waste into valuable small molecules that can be used in chemical syntheses are a step toward a sustainable carbon cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team led by Lutz Ackermann from the Friedrich W\u00f6hler Institute of Sustainable Chemistry in G\u00f6ttingen, Germany, has developed an electrocatalytic method for the efficient degradation of polystyrene. The degradation process results in a significant share of monomeric benzoyl products, which can be used as feedstock for chemical processes, as well as some short polymer chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key to success lies in the powerful iron-based catalyst\u2014a porphyrin iron complex that resembles hemoglobin. Its advantage over many other catalytically active metals is that iron is non-toxic, inexpensive, and easy to obtain. During the electrocatalytic reaction, the iron compound cyclically switches between different oxidation states (IV, III, and II). The various stages of the reaction and the intermediate products ultimately lead to the cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds in the polymer backbone. The main products are benzoic acid and benzaldehyde. Benzoic acid is a precursor for many chemical syntheses, including the production of flavorings and preservatives. The reliability of this new electrocatalysis was demonstrated by the effective degradation of real plastic waste in laboratory conditions (on a gram scale).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This polystyrene degradation process can be fully powered by electricity from commercially available solar panels. Additionally, a useful byproduct, hydrogen, is generated during the degradation. Thus, this new electrocatalytic process, which can easily be scaled up to an industrial level, combines effective plastic recycling with decentralized green hydrogen production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4509,"template":"","acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power - Synemic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power - Synemic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Plastic is inevitable in our daily lives. However, the enormous amount of plastic waste accumulating in landfills and the environment is just as serious an issue as useful plastic. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German research team introduced a new method for recycling polystyrene waste. Their efficient electrochemical process uses an inexpensive iron-based catalyst, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Synemic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-24T15:16:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1096\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/\",\"name\":\"A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power - Synemic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-20T15:09:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-24T15:16:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8.png\",\"width\":1096,\"height\":728},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Synemic\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/\",\"name\":\"Synemic\",\"description\":\"Synemic\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Synemic\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/synemic_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/synemic_logo.png\",\"width\":219,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Synemic\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/synemic.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power - Synemic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/synemic.net\/en\/news\/4389\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A New Solution for Polystyrene Recycling: German Scientists Develop Electrochemical Process with Hydrogen Production and Solar Power - Synemic","og_description":"Plastic is inevitable in our daily lives. However, the enormous amount of plastic waste accumulating in landfills and the environment is just as serious an issue as useful plastic. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German research team introduced a new method for recycling polystyrene waste. 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