Discarded PPE could be turned into renewable liquid fuels, study finds

Plastic from used personal protective equipment (PPE) could be recycled into renewable liquid fuels, a new study has shown.

Amid concerns that large amounts of PPE are being thrown away on a daily basis during the pandemic, experts from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) have urged authorities to consider converting these plastics into biofuels using a chemical process called pyrolysis.

This breaks down plastic at high temperatures – between 300 and 400C degree for an hour – without oxygen and produces high quantities of bio-oil which is easily biodegradable.

In the study, published in the journal Biofuels, researchers wrote that this method “is an environmentally friendly alternative to incineration and inefficient landfilling.”

Polyproylene used to make PPE is a single-use, non-woven plastic, which can take decades to decompose, the authors said.

Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, environmental groups have reported retrieving gloves, masks and hand sanitiser bottles from the ocean, with coronavirus waste rapidly becoming a new form of global pollution.

One study estimates that in the UK alone, if every person used a single-use face mask a day for a year, it would create an additional 66,000 tonnes of contaminated waste and 57,000 tonnes of plastic packaging.

Globally, an estimated 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves have been used each month during the pandemic, “resulting in widespread environmental contamination,” according to the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Dr Sapna Jain, who led the UPES research, says that the transformation of PPE into biocrude, a type of synthetic fuel, “will not just prevent the severe after-effects to humankind and the environment but also produce a source of energy”.

“Presently, the world is focusing to combat Covid-19, however, we can foresee the issues of economic crisis and ecological imbalance also,” she said.

“We have to prepare ourselves to meet the challenges which are forcefully imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, so as to maintain sustainability.

“There is a high production and utilization of PPE to protect the community of health workers and other frontline workers of Covid-19. The disposal of PPE is a concern owing to its material i.e. non-woven polypropylene.

“The proposed strategy is a suggestive measure addressing the anticipated problem of disposal of PPE.”

Co-author Dr Bhawna Yadav Lamba said that pyrolysis offers a sustainable solution to tackling the globe’s energy crisis.

“There is always a need for alternative fuels or energy resources to meet our energy demands. The pyrolysis of plastics is one of the methods to mitigate our energy crisis.

“The challenges of PPE waste management and increasing energy demand could be addressed simultaneously by the production of liquid fuel from PPE kits. The liquid fuel produced from plastics is clean and have fuel properties similar to fossil fuels.”