Russian scientists extract oil from plastic waste

Scientists at Perm National Research Technical University in Russia have created a unit for obtaining petroleum products from plastic waste of almost any type, using water as a solvent for the plastic.

The university’s media office stated in a statement carried by TASS news agency that university scientists have created a unit that processes a wide range of industrial waste, requires four times less work space than existing facilities, and its components are entirely local. The innovation is aimed at deep treatment of waste using a universal solvent – ​​water in a liquid state.

The statement added that the researchers successfully used the innovative method on more than 100 types of plastic waste.

The amount of plastic waste in Russia ranges between 3.5 to 8.5 million tons annually, and this amount is expected to double in 2025, and the percentage of plastic waste that is recycled reaches between 5 to 12% of the total waste.