OSU Plastics Conversion Technology Research Group

The OSU Plastics Conversion Technology Research Group is emerging as one of the leading university research programs focused on the thermo-catalytic pyrolysis and gasification of waste plastics to create feedstocks and fuels from otherwise landfill-bound waste streams. In addition to scientific contributions, the research group is also educating the next generation of engineers and scientists that will help to advance these important technologies and move us toward a more circular economy for plastics.

The group is led by Dr. Skip Rochefort and Dr. Konstantinos Goulas, and will conduct research related to the conversion of waste plastics to feedstocks, fuels, and fine chemicals via pyrolysis and gasification. These technologies are especially important to OPR as many of the ocean plastics that we collect are far too degraded and/or contaminated to be recycled using traditional methods.

Research Areas

• Characterization of Waste Plastics

• Feedstock Preparation

• Thermo-Catalytic Pyrolysis of Waste Plastics

• Gasification of Waste Plastics

• Open-Source, Single-Step Plastics-to-Diesel Reactor Design

• Ocean Plastics Recovery by Pyrolysis and Gasification

  Resources

• Bench-scale (1 kg) batch catalytic pyrolysis reactor

• Pilot-scale (100 kg/day) semi-batch catalytic pyrolysis reactor

• Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC)

• Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA)

• Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR)

• Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS)

• Gas Chromatography – Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID)