IIT Mandi develops method to convert plastics into hydrogen, useful chemicals

NEW DELHI: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi have developed a method in which plastic can be converted to hydrogen and other useful chemicals such as lactic acid, formic acid and acetic acid. This development is significant as hydrogen is considered to be the most practical non-polluting fuel of the future.

According to a statement from IIT Mandi, a catalyst developed by researchers can convert plastics into hydrogen and other useful chemicals when exposed to light. The research received funding from the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) by the Union education ministry. The research outcomes were recently published in the journal called Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering.

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The research team was led by Prem Fexil Siril, professor, school of basic sciences at IIT Mandi, and Aditi Halder, associate professor, school of basic sciences. The research was also co-authored by PhD scholars, Rituporn Gogoi, Astha Singh, Vedasree Moutam, Lalita Sharma, and Kajal Sharma.

The researchers at IIT Mandi claims that there was complete degradation of plastic material within four hours when they used the catalyst. Siril said that they were excited to find out that carbon dioxide was not co-produced in the process. Instead, useful chemicals such as lactic acid, formic acid and acetic acid were produced.

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“The ideal path to effective annihilation of plastics is to degrade them into useful chemicals. The generation of hydrogen from plastics is particularly useful because the gas is considered the most practical non-polluting fuel of the future. ” said Siril. Explaining his research, he further said, “We first ascertained the photocatalytic activity of our catalyst by seeing its action on methyl orange, whose colour change from orange to colourless showed the extent to which our catalyst was able to degrade it.”