Waste caused due to the use of plastic products especially carry bags and water bottles, is a serious problem the world is currently battling with. While the best way to reduce waste is to give up on the use of plastic products altogether, there are researchers who are coming up with innovative techniques to produce something useful from plastic waste. Working on the same lines an Egyptian teenager, Azza Abdei Hamid Falad, has found a way to make use of the estimated one million tons of plastic produced in Egypt annually, to produce biofuel worth $78 million.
The plan, which could easily transform the country’s economy, is based on the use of a high-yield catalyst called aluminosilicate. The catalyst helps in breaking down plastic polymers found in water bottles and general waste and turns them into biofuel feedstock. During the breakdown process, the catalyst produces gaseous products like methane, propane and ethane which can be converted into ethanol.
The affordable catalyst can provide an efficient method for production of hydrocarbon fuel including 40,000 tons of naptha and 138,000 tons of hydrocarbon gases. Azza is now looking to get her findings patented.