Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Avantika Singh; Nicholas A. Rorrer; Scott Nicholson; Erika Erickson; Jason DesVeaux; Andre Avelino; Patrick Lamers; Arpit Bhatt; Yimin Zhang; Gregg Avery; Ling Tao; Andrew Pickford; Alberta Carpenter; John McGeehan; Gregg T. Beckham

doi:10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015

Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Avantika Singh, Nicholas A. Rorrer, Scott Nicholson, Erika Erickson, Jason DesVeaux, Andre Avelino, Patrick Lamers, Arpit Bhatt, Yimin Zhang, Gregg Avery, Ling Tao, Andrew Pickford, Alberta Carpenter, John McGeehan, Gregg T. Beckham^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Esterases have emerged as important biocatalysts for enzyme-based polyester recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Here, we present process modeling, techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analyses for an enzymatic PET depolymerization-based recycling process, which we compare to virgin TPA manufacturing. We predict that enzymatically recycled TPA (rTPA) can be cost-competitive and highlight key areas to achieve this. In addition to favorable long-term socio-economic benefits, rTPA can reduce total supply-chain energy use by 69-83% and greenhouse gas emissions by 17-43% per kg of TPA. An economy-wide assessment for the US estimates that the TPA recycling process can reduce environmental impacts by up to 95%, while generating up to 45% more socio-economic benefits, also relative to virgin TPA production. Sensitivity analyses highlight impactful research opportunities to pursue towards realizing biological PET recycling and upcycling.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-25
Number of pages	25
Journal	Joule
Volume	5
Early online date	15 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015
Publication status	Published - 15 Sept 2021

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 15 Life on Land

Keywords

PETase
techno-economic analysis
life cycle assessment
enzymatic PET depolymerization
plastics recycling

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10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015

1-s2.0-S2542435121003032-mainFinal published version, 5.08 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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Singh, A., Rorrer, N. A., Nicholson, S., Erickson, E., DesVeaux, J., Avelino, A., Lamers, P., Bhatt, A., Zhang, Y., Avery, G., Tao, L., Pickford, A., Carpenter, A., McGeehan, J., & Beckham, G. T. (2021). Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate). Joule, 5, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015

@article{32070cbc2aa74fe996f91c85f431106c,

title = "Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)",

abstract = "Esterases have emerged as important biocatalysts for enzyme-based polyester recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Here, we present process modeling, techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analyses for an enzymatic PET depolymerization-based recycling process, which we compare to virgin TPA manufacturing. We predict that enzymatically recycled TPA (rTPA) can be cost-competitive and highlight key areas to achieve this. In addition to favorable long-term socio-economic benefits, rTPA can reduce total supply-chain energy use by 69-83\% and greenhouse gas emissions by 17-43\% per kg of TPA. An economy-wide assessment for the US estimates that the TPA recycling process can reduce environmental impacts by up to 95\%, while generating up to 45\% more socio-economic benefits, also relative to virgin TPA production. Sensitivity analyses highlight impactful research opportunities to pursue towards realizing biological PET recycling and upcycling.",

keywords = "PETase, techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, enzymatic PET depolymerization, plastics recycling",

author = "Avantika Singh and Rorrer, \{Nicholas A.\} and Scott Nicholson and Erika Erickson and Jason DesVeaux and Andre Avelino and Patrick Lamers and Arpit Bhatt and Yimin Zhang and Gregg Avery and Ling Tao and Andrew Pickford and Alberta Carpenter and John McGeehan and Beckham, \{Gregg T.\}",

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Singh, A, Rorrer, NA, Nicholson, S, Erickson, E, DesVeaux, J, Avelino, A, Lamers, P, Bhatt, A, Zhang, Y, Avery, G, Tao, L, Pickford, A, Carpenter, A, McGeehan, J & Beckham, GT 2021, 'Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)', Joule, vol. 5, pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015

TY - JOUR

T1 - Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)

AU - Singh, Avantika

AU - Rorrer, Nicholas A.

AU - Nicholson, Scott

AU - Erickson, Erika

AU - DesVeaux, Jason

AU - Avelino, Andre

AU - Lamers, Patrick

AU - Bhatt, Arpit

AU - Zhang, Yimin

AU - Avery, Gregg

AU - Tao, Ling

AU - Pickford, Andrew

AU - Carpenter, Alberta

AU - McGeehan, John

AU - Beckham, Gregg T.

PY - 2021/9/15

Y1 - 2021/9/15

N2 - Esterases have emerged as important biocatalysts for enzyme-based polyester recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Here, we present process modeling, techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analyses for an enzymatic PET depolymerization-based recycling process, which we compare to virgin TPA manufacturing. We predict that enzymatically recycled TPA (rTPA) can be cost-competitive and highlight key areas to achieve this. In addition to favorable long-term socio-economic benefits, rTPA can reduce total supply-chain energy use by 69-83% and greenhouse gas emissions by 17-43% per kg of TPA. An economy-wide assessment for the US estimates that the TPA recycling process can reduce environmental impacts by up to 95%, while generating up to 45% more socio-economic benefits, also relative to virgin TPA production. Sensitivity analyses highlight impactful research opportunities to pursue towards realizing biological PET recycling and upcycling.

AB - Esterases have emerged as important biocatalysts for enzyme-based polyester recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Here, we present process modeling, techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analyses for an enzymatic PET depolymerization-based recycling process, which we compare to virgin TPA manufacturing. We predict that enzymatically recycled TPA (rTPA) can be cost-competitive and highlight key areas to achieve this. In addition to favorable long-term socio-economic benefits, rTPA can reduce total supply-chain energy use by 69-83% and greenhouse gas emissions by 17-43% per kg of TPA. An economy-wide assessment for the US estimates that the TPA recycling process can reduce environmental impacts by up to 95%, while generating up to 45% more socio-economic benefits, also relative to virgin TPA production. Sensitivity analyses highlight impactful research opportunities to pursue towards realizing biological PET recycling and upcycling.

KW - PETase

KW - techno-economic analysis

KW - life cycle assessment

KW - enzymatic PET depolymerization

KW - plastics recycling

UR - http://Techno-economic, life-cycle, and socioeconomic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)

U2 - 10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015

DO - 10.1016/j.joule.2021.06.015

M3 - Article

SN - 2542-4351

VL - 5

SP - 1

EP - 25

JO - Joule

JF - Joule

ER -

Techno-economic, life cycle, and socio-economic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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