World’s First ‘Hydrogen + High-Temperature Plasma Torch to Decompose Benzene in 0.01 Seconds… Also Highly Economical: A groundbreaking method to recycle plastics without the need to separate materials or remove labels has been discovered by a domestic research team using hydrogen and a plasma torch. “It also possesses tremendous economic potential,” explained Song Young-hoon, head of the Waste Organic Material Basic Resource Business Unit at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, who developed the technology. Song further explained that demonstration tests will begin at the Yeosu Petrochemical Complex in the third quarter.
On the 3rd, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials announced that the ‘Plasma Utilization Waste Organic Material High Value-Added Basic Resource Business Unit’ (led by Song Young-hoon), which involves Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, and universities, developed an innovative plasma conversion process that turns various waste plastics back into plastic raw materials without rigorous sorting procedures.
This technology is a new concept process that converts mixed waste plastics into ethylene and benzene using plasma. Plasma, a state of electrically activated gas at high temperatures, has much faster reaction speeds and higher energy transfer properties than traditional pyrolysis.
The research team was the first in the world to develop a high-temperature plasma torch using 100% hydrogen, successfully decomposing mixed waste plastics at ultra-high temperatures of 1,000 to 2,000℃ within 0.01 seconds.
The substances separated through this decomposition process are ethylene and benzene, key raw materials for plastic manufacturing. The team explained that the selectivity (the proportion of the desired substance) is 70-90%, with ethylene yield possibly exceeding 70%.
After the refining process, it is possible to secure raw materials of over 99% high purity.
To achieve this, the research team introduced a 100% hydrogen-based operation method to efficiently break polymer structures through rapid decomposition at high temperatures and suppress inevitable carbon generation at high temperatures.
This dramatically improved long-term operational stability. Additionally, it successfully converted more than 70-80% of the total products into specific recyclable raw materials like ethylene and benzene while simultaneously treating by-products like wax and light hydrocarbons.
In particular, energy efficiency was significantly increased by converting wax, which was difficult to utilize in existing pyrolysis, with a selectivity of over 80%.
If commercialized, this technology could dramatically increase the domestic chemical recycling rate of waste plastics, which is currently below 1%. It also has a significant carbon emission reduction effect as recycling rather than incineration is possible, and by utilizing renewable energy, a system with virtually no CO2 emissions can be achieved.
Pilot operations have proven its economic feasibility, according to Song Young-hoon. The cost of ethylene produced was analyzed to be at the same level as the cost of existing ethylene raw materials. The research team plans to accelerate commercialization by conducting long-term operational verification at domestic demonstration sites starting in 2026.
Existing waste plastics have been processed through incineration, heat recovery after incineration, physical recycling, or chemical recycling. Among these, the chemical recycling rate was below 1% due to economic issues. For chemical recycling, mixed plastics must go through a strict sorting process.
Moreover, typical plastic pyrolysis occurs at around 450-600℃, producing substances in a mixed state of more than a hundred types of chemicals, with only 20-30% of them actually being usable chemical substances.
Song Young-hoon stated, “We have secured a process that is economically viable while converting mixed waste plastics into raw materials for the first time in the world,” and added, “We aim to solve waste and carbon issues simultaneously through demonstration and commercialization.”
Song also emphasized the economic viability of the technology by stating, “The hydrogen used as fuel is recycled from the waste plastic recycling process, which is one of the reasons for the low production cost,” and “When used to produce aviation fuel from recycled plastics, it can be purchased at up to six times the market price.”
Additionally, Lee Dae-hoon, head of the Nitrogen Resource Strategy Research Unit, explained, “Various elemental technologies, along with process technology, were secured during this research process,” and added, “There is great potential for expansion to greenhouse gas treatment in semiconductor and display processes and high-quality material production.”
Meanwhile, the final research result meeting of the business unit will be held on the 5th in the main conference room of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials headquarters.