Presentation given at AREC 2021 Conference. How to convert waste plastic to white hydrogen. and carbons.

1. Plastics Circularity & H2
Dr. Flavio Ortigao, CTO
flavio.ortigao@recupera.si
T +386 30 301 335

2. Last year, we launched White Hydrogen Concept
Brown: H2 produced by mineral coal gasification;
Grey: H2 produced by natural gas steam reform;
Blue: H2, produced by the above-mentioned methods with
carbon capture and storage (CCS);
Green: H2 produced by water electrolysis, utilizing renewable
energy;
White: H2 produced by gasification of renewable sources, like
biomass or plastics at end-of-life, via syngas by separation.

3. ANALYSIS

4. Source: A Critical Review of SCWG in the Context of Available Gasification Technologies for Plastic
Waste Benedetta Ciuffi 1 , David Chiaramonti 2,3 , Andrea Maria Rizzo 3 , Marco Frediani 1 and Luca
Rosi 1,3,*
Plastic Recycling Typology
• Primary Recycling: re-extrusion, recycling a single type of
polymer, with properties close to the virgin material and free of
contaminations.
• Secondary Recycling mechanical transformation of plastic
waste, Secondary recycling can only be done on thermoplastic polymers as
they can be remelted and reprocessed.
• Tertiary recycling (Waste to energy/Waste to chemicals): This
recycling consists of obtaining, by chemical or physical methods, monomers,
oligomers, or other compounds from plastic waste.
• Quaternary recycling (Energy recovery): In quaternary
recycling, the waste material is treated to recover energy through

5. 23/03/2021
Plastics circularity flow diagram
Fossil Oil
Cracking and
conversion to
building blocks
Polymerization
& production
of plastics
materials
Extrusion,
injection and
molding of
final products
Use
Landfill
Reextrusion
Physical
Recycling
Pyrolysis
Gasification
Monomers
Syngas
Syncrude
Incineration

6. White Hydrogen is a game changer
White Hydrogen is an innovative and disruptive
concept: Recupera considers eol plastics as
solid organic hydrogen carrier.
Implication: solve the plastic problem.

7. Plastic molecular structure

8. Plastics
Modified from Shell

9. AGENDA
Dry and
pulverized
mixed eol
plastics
Gasification
Steam O2/Heat
Ashes
CO, H2
CO2, H2S, NH3
CO2, H2S, NH3
Purific
ation
Syngas
H2
+
CO
2:1
Recupera Gasification flow schema

10. Core platform: Low Temperature Conversion
Gasification
1t/h
4mm shredded feedstocks
2500m3/h
Syngas
H2
+
CO
2:1
Gasification
The LTC plants utilize progressive thermo-catalytic material gasification. The material is gasified by
infra-red induction heat bellow 450°C and integrated gas purification, all within a hermetically
closed system. The result is a clean process with very high yield. The plants fluidized bed reactors
allow for continuous flow while inductive heat transfer decomposes organic structures into their
constituent elements in a multi-stage process.

11. Recupera Plant in Celje, Slovenia

12. THANK YOU!

13. Gas Product flow
AGENDA
H2
CO
Hydrogenation
Desulfurization
Metal reduction
Decarbonization
Fuel
Energy storage
Methanol
Syngas
Thermal Energy

14. Gas Separation
AGENDA
2500m3
/h
Syngas
H2
+
CO
2:1
Pressure Swing Adsorption
(PSA)
H2
CO
144kg/h
860kg/h

15. Plastic Gasification Reaction General Formula
CnHm + nH2O (n+m/2)H2 + nCO
NB: CBT will not volatize inorganics, they will be in the ashes.
Mass Law (Lavoisier), the same number of atoms in the inflow, must be
in the outflow.

16. Gasification Reactions
• Steam Reforming – Dampfreformierung – Reforma com Vapor
CH4 + H2O  CO + 3H2
• Partial Oxidation - Partielle Oxidation – Oxidaçao Parcial
CnHm + n/2 O2  nCO + m/2 H2
• Autothermical Reform - Autotherme Reformierung – Reforma autotérmica
4CH4 + 2H2O + O2  4CO + 10H2
• Gas Preparation – Gasaufarbeitung – Preparacao do Gas
•Biomass – Biomasse – Biomassa
C6H12O6 + O2 + H2O → 6CO + 7H2 +3/2 O2
• Kvaerner Process - Kvaerner-Verfahren – Processo de Kvaerner
CnHm  nC + m/2 H2

17. Plastic Gasification Benchmarking

18. The Future of Hydrogen Chapter 1: Introduction
Table 2. Physical properties of hydrogen
Property Hydrogen Comparison
Density (gaseous) 0.089 kg/m
3
(0°C, 1 bar) 1/10 of natural gas
Density (liquid) 70.79 kg/m
3
(-253°C, 1 bar) 1/6 of natural gas
Boiling point -252.76°C (1 bar) 90°C below LNG
Energy per unit of mass (LHV) 120.1 MJ/kg 3x that of gasoline
Energy density (ambient cond., LHV) 0.01 MJ/L 1/3 of natural gas
Specific energy (liquefied, LHV) 8.5 MJ/L 1/3 of LNG
Flame velocity 346 cm/s 8x methane
Ignition range 4–77% in air by volume 6x wider than methane
Autoignition temperature 585°C 220°C for gasoline
Ignition energy 0.02 MJ 1/10 of methane
Notes: cm/s = centimetre per second; kg/m3
= kilograms per cubic metre; LHV = lower heating value; MJ = megajoule; MJ/kg =
megajoules per kilogram; MJ/L = megajoules per litre.
What are the health and safety considerations?
Like other energy carriers, hydrogen presents certain health and safety risks when used on a
large scale. Safety considerations and incidents can slow, or even prevent, the deployment of a