The era of hassle-free plastic recycling is becoming a reality!

The inconvenience of separating plastics for recycling may soon be a thing of the past. A team of Korean researchers has developed the world’s first technology that can chemically recycle mixed waste plastics into raw materials in a highly selective manner without the need for strict sorting or label removal.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Seog-Hyeon Ryu, hereinafter “KIMM”), under the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST), announced that its Center for Plasma Process for Organic Material Recycling (led by Dr. Young-Hoon Song), carried out in collaboration with the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and several universities, has successfully developed an innovative plasma conversion process. This process transforms a wide variety of waste plastics directly into raw chemical feedstocks, setting a new milestone for Korea’s chemical industry and environmental policy.

The newly developed process converts mixed waste plastics into ethylene and benzene using plasma—a highly energized gas at extreme temperatures with much faster reaction kinetics and higher energy transfer efficiency compared to conventional pyrolysis.

KIMM’s research team has succeeded in developing the world’s first ultra-high-temperature plasma torch powered entirely by hydrogen. Operating at 1,000–2,000 °C, the torch decomposes mixed waste plastics in less than 0.01 seconds. By controlling the reaction temperature and time, the researchers achieved selectivity levels of 70–90% and ethylene yields exceeding 70%. After purification, more than 99% of the output could be secured as high-purity raw materials for plastic manufacturing.

Until now, waste plastics have mostly been treated through incineration, energy recovery, or limited forms of mechanical and chemical recycling. The chemical recycling rate has remained below 1% due to high costs and the need for strict pre-sorting. Traditional pyrolysis typically proceeds at 450–600 °C, yielding a mixture of more than a hundred of chemical by-products, only 20–30% of which are practically useful.

The plasma process developed by the program team overcomes these limitations. Its ultra-high-temperature operation rapidly breaks down polymer structures while suppressing carbon formation by using 100% hydrogen fuel. As a result, the process not only secures long-term operational stability but also enables the selective conversion of over 70–80% of the outputs into ethylene and benzene. Notably, even waxes—previously unusable in pyrolysis—could be converted at more than 80% selectivity, boosting energy efficiency.

Once commercialized, this technology is expected to dramatically increase Korea’s chemical recycling rate for waste plastics, which currently stands at less than 1%. It offers a powerful alternative to incineration, with significant potential for carbon reduction. Moreover, when powered by renewable energy, the process could become virtually carbon-free. Pilot operations have already demonstrated economic feasibility, showing that the production cost of ethylene is comparable to that of existing feedstocks. The team plans to conduct long-term demonstration operations at a domestic site beginning in 2026 to accelerate commercialization.

Dr. Young-Hoon Song, head of the program, said, “For the first time worldwide, we have secured a process that can economically convert mixed waste plastics into raw materials. Through demonstration and commercialization, this will help solve both waste and carbon issues simultaneously.”

Dr. Dae Hoon Lee, head of the Nitro-Future Initiative Global Top Research Lab., added, “In addition to the process technology, several key sub-technologies were also developed during this project, which could be extended to greenhouse gas treatment in semiconductor and display manufacturing, as well as high-value material production.”

The Center for Plasma Process for Organic Material Recycling has been operated since April 2022 as part of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Environment’s “Innovation & Challenge Project,” and will continue through June 2025. Alongside developing the plasma process for converting mixed plastics into high-selectivity C2 monomers, the program is also pursuing commercialization of its sub-technologies. The project’s final results briefing session will be held on Friday, September 5, at 10 a.m. at KIMM’s headquarters.

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[Photo] Research team of Center for Plasma Process for Organic Material Recycling at KIMM and related research outcomes

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The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Since its foundation in 1976, KIMM is contributing to economic growth of the nation by performing R&D on key technologies in machinery and materials, conducting reliability test evaluation, and commercializing the developed products and technologies.