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Sustainable Chemistry
Special Issues
Recycling and Upcycling of Plastic Wastes
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Recycling and Upcycling of Plastic Wastes

A special issue of Sustainable Chemistry (ISSN 2673-4079).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 3952

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Konstantinos S. Triantafyllidis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: green chemistry; heterogeneous catalysis; synthesis and characterization of nanostructured materials; thermochemical and catalytic processes for biomass valorisation; biobased polymers and nanocomposites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Michael T. Timko

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609-2280, USA
Interests: renewable energy and waste-to-energy technologies; liquid transportation fuels; biomass fuels; reaction engineering; thermodynamics; fuel refining and desulfurization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The need for plastic waste valorization via recycling or upcycling technologies has become a necessity that spurs from the projected depletion of fossil resources (petroleum and coal), but mostly from the emerging environmental pollution and the associated detrimental effects on human and animal health. The nature/composition and origin of municipal or industrial plastic wastes that are based on existing high performance engineering thermoplastic and thermoset polymers reinforced with various organic/inorganic additives, determine the applicability of mechanical or (thermo)chemical recycling towards lower-grade plastics or back to the monomers or other platform chemicals with a synthetic polymer potential. Alternatively, chemical upcycling may transform plastic waste to chemicals, materials, or high quality fuels via conventional (or adjusted) petroleum refining catalytic processes. From the economic and sustainability perspective, collection and sorting issues, along with the whole logistics and legislation chain (e.g., transportation, storage, and security, etc.), play an equally important role. Looking at the future, the molecular design of new “conventional” polymers or bio-based polymers and composites, which may be subjected to facile chemical recycling via green and mild methods, in terms of energy and toxic solvents requirements, is also of paramount importance. Within this context, we invite the submission of original research papers and review articles presenting the latest achievements and trends in sustainable mechanical and (bio)chemical processes for the recycling and upcycling of all types of traditional plastic waste, as well as modern, specially designed petroleum-derived polymers/plastics and bio-based polymers, towards recycled plastics, chemicals/monomers, fuels and materials, including the important topics of technoeconomic analysis and life cycle assessment.

Prof. Dr. Konstantinos S. Triantafyllidis
Dr. Michael T. Timko
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainable Chemistry is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • waste plastics
  • municipal and industrial wastes
  • collection, management, pretreatment, sorting
  • thermoplastics, thermosets, composites
  • Bio-based polymers
  • (bio)degradable polymers
  • mechanical recycling
  • (thermo)chemical recycling and upcycling
  • pyrolysis, gasification, hydrolysis, solvolysis
  • biological recycling
  • homogeneous, heterogeneous, and bio-catalysis
  • alternative/benign methods (sono- and photo-chemistry, microwave)
  • catalytic upgrading
  • platform chemicals and monomers, fuels
  • techno-economic analysis
  • life cycle assessment
  • green and sustainable chemistry

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 15043 KiB  
Article
Use of Domestic Polymeric Waste for Surfactant Removal from Wastewater
by Thaiara Ramires dos Reis, Donizeti Leonardo Mancini Tolari, Ana Claudia Pedrozo da Silva, Elton Guntendorfer Bonafé, Rafael Block Samulewski and André Luiz Tessaro
Sustain. Chem. 2025, 6(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem6010006 - 14 Feb 2025
Viewed by 526
Abstract
This study addresses the environmental challenge of surfactant removal from wastewater, focusing on the increased surfactant use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Polymeric waste, specifically polyurethane (PU) and polyamide (PA), was repurposed for surfactant adsorption to mitigate these environmental impacts. Methods included preparing surfactant [...] Read more.
This study addresses the environmental challenge of surfactant removal from wastewater, focusing on the increased surfactant use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Polymeric waste, specifically polyurethane (PU) and polyamide (PA), was repurposed for surfactant adsorption to mitigate these environmental impacts. Methods included preparing surfactant solutions of sodium linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) and dodecyl pyridinium chloride (DPC) and the mechanical processing of polymeric residues. PU and PA were characterized by FTIR-ATR and by the pH at the point of zero charge, which yielded pH = 8.0 for both polymers. The adsorption efficiency was optimized using a central composite face-centered design, varying pH, temperature, and time. The results indicated that PU and PA effectively adsorbed anionic and cationic surfactants, with specific conditions enhancing performance. From the optimized experimental conditions, four assays were carried out to evaluate the adsorption isotherms and kinetics. Among the fitted models, the SIPS model was the most representative, indicating a heterogeneous surface. Regarding LAS, the maximum adsorption capacity values were ~90 and 15 mg g−1, respectively, for PU and PA. Considering the DPC surfactant, lower values were obtained (~36 mg g−1 for PU and 16 mg g−1 for PA). The results are satisfactory because the adsorbents used in this study were second-generation waste and were used without treatment or complex modifications. The study concluded that using polymeric waste for surfactant removal offers a sustainable solution, transforming waste management while addressing environmental contamination. This approach provides a method for reducing surfactant levels in wastewater and adds value to otherwise discarded materials, promoting a circular economy and sustainable waste reuse. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Upcycling of Plastic Wastes)
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Figure 1

Figure 1
<p>Polymeric wastes of (<b>A</b>) PU and (<b>B</b>) PA used in the adsorption experiments. The samples were mechanically processed before use.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>(<b>A</b>) Ultraviolet absorption spectra of aqueous solutions of the surfactants LAS and DPC (50 ppm). Calibration curves of the surfactants (<b>B</b>) LAS and (<b>C</b>) DPC in water at room temperature.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>(<b>A</b>) Adsorbent characterization at pH at the point of zero charge (pH<sub>PZC</sub>) and FTIR-ATR spectra of polymeric residues: (<b>B</b>) PA and (<b>C</b>) PU.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Response surface of the LAS adsorption by PU material evaluating pH × Temperature (<b>A</b>) and pH × Time (<b>B</b>).</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>Response surface of LAS adsorption by PA material evaluating pH × Temperature (<b>A</b>) and pH × Time (<b>B</b>).</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Response surface of the DPC adsorption by PU material evaluating pH × Temperature (<b>A</b>) and pH × Time (<b>B</b>).</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>Response surface of the DPC adsorption by PA material evaluating pH × Temperature (<b>A</b>) and pH × Time (<b>B</b>).</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Adsorption isotherms after 24 h for (<b>A</b>) assay 1; (<b>B</b>) assay 2; (<b>C</b>) assay 3; and (<b>D</b>) assay 4. The red curves represent the fits by the SIPS model.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Adsorption kinetics of (<b>A</b>) LAS (assay 1) and (<b>B</b>) DPC (assay 2).</p> Full article ">

Review

Jump to: Research

14 pages, 2370 KiB  
Review
The Peril of Plastics: Atmospheric Microplastics in Outdoor, Indoor, and Remote Environments
by Shikha Jyoti Borah, Abhijeet Kumar Gupta, Vinod Kumar, Priyanka Jhajharia, Praduman Prasad Singh, Pramod Kumar, Ravinder Kumar, Kashyap Kumar Dubey and Akanksha Gupta
Sustain. Chem. 2024, 5(2), 149-162; https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem5020011 - 12 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2429
Abstract
The increasing commercial, industrial, and medical applications of plastics cannot be halted during the coming years. Microplastics are a new class of plastic pollutants which have emerged as escalating environmental threats. The persistence, effects, and removal of MPs present in soil, water, and [...] Read more.
The increasing commercial, industrial, and medical applications of plastics cannot be halted during the coming years. Microplastics are a new class of plastic pollutants which have emerged as escalating environmental threats. The persistence, effects, and removal of MPs present in soil, water, and numerous organisms have become an important research field. However, atmospheric microplastics (AMPs), which are subcategorized into deposited and suspended, remain largely unexplored. This review presents the recent developments and challenges involved in fully understanding suspended and deposited AMPs. The evaluation of indoor suspended MP fibers needs to be critically investigated to understand their implications for human health. Furthermore, the transportation of AMPs to isolated locations, such as cryospheric regions, requires immediate attention. The major challenges associated with AMPs, which have hindered advancement in this field, are inconsistency in the available data, limited knowledge, and the lack of standardized methodologies for the sampling and characterization techniques of AMPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Upcycling of Plastic Wastes)
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Graphical abstract

Graphical abstract
Full article ">Figure 1
<p>SEM images of various MPs depicting varying sizes and shapes. (<b>a<sub>1</sub></b>) PE bead; (<b>a<sub>2</sub></b>) PE film; (<b>b<sub>1</sub></b>) PET fiber; (<b>b<sub>2</sub></b>) PET fragment; (<b>c<sub>1</sub></b>) PS fragment; (<b>c<sub>2</sub></b>) PS foam; (<b>d</b>) PUR foam; (<b>e</b>) PC fragment; (<b>f</b>) PP fiber; (<b>g</b>) PAN fiber; (<b>h</b>) PA fiber; and (<b>i</b>) PVC. Reproduced from ref. [<a href="#B25-suschem-05-00011" class="html-bibr">25</a>]. Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>A schematic illustration of the source–trajectory–sink interrelationship formed due to the suspension and deposition of AMPs. Reproduced from ref. [<a href="#B27-suschem-05-00011" class="html-bibr">27</a>]. Copyrights © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>The composition of various MPs obtained from different (<b>a</b>) indoor and (<b>b</b>) outdoor samples. Reproduced from ref. [<a href="#B48-suschem-05-00011" class="html-bibr">48</a>]. Copyright © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>(<b>a</b>) Multiple MPs detected during the Tara Pacific Expedition along the Atlantic transect. (<b>b</b>) Raman spectra for the detected AMPs, along with their light microscope images. The standards for detected MP types have been correspondingly presented in magenta. PS: polystyrene; PE: polyethylene; PDMS: polymethylsiloxane; PP: polyproylene. Reproduced from ref. [<a href="#B65-suschem-05-00011" class="html-bibr">65</a>]. Copyright © 2020, The Author(s).</p> Full article ">
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