Method of converting plastic waste into useful stock

A method of recovery of pristine polymers from a sorted waste feedstock containing organic additives, comprising:

• a. selecting a first solvent (S1), wherein the S1 is within a Hansen's sphere with respect to the sorted waste feedstock and wherein the S1 is in a predetermined list of solvents;
• b. inputting the S1 into an extractor;
• c. inputting e feedstock into the extractor, thereby generating a mixture (M);
• d. heating the M to a temperature ranging from 5° C. to 180° C.;
• e. waiting a predetermined amount of time, thereby forming a polymer solution containing the organic additives (PSlO);
• f. separating insolubles from the PSlO, forming a pristine polymer solution with organic additives (PPSlO);
• g. adsorbing the PPSlO using one or more adsorbents for the organic additives to thereby remove organic additives forming a pristine polymer solution (PPS);
• h. separating the pristine polymer (PrP) from the PPS;
• and
• i. collecting the separated PrP.

A method of recovery of pristine polymers from a mixture of a plurality of waste feedstock of different types of plastics (mixture of plastics) each free of organic additives, comprising:

• a. inputting the mixture of plastics into an extractor;
• b. selecting a solvent mixture (SMi) from a plurality of solvents, Hansen parameters of the selected solvent mixture are within the Hansen's sphere of a target plastic of the mixture of plastics and where each solvent of the plurality is in a predetermined list of solvents;
• c. inputting the selected SMi into the extractor, thereby generating a mixture (Mi);
• d. selectively heating the Mi to a temperature ranging 5° C. to 180° C. corresponding to a schedule of temperature vs. known type of plastic;
• e. waiting a predetermined amount of time, thereby forming a polymer solution (PSli) containing a mixture of solvents and polymers;
• f. separating insolubles from the PSli, forming a pristine polymer solution (PPSi), wherein the insolubles are provided to the extractor during a next cycle (i+1);
• g. separating the pristine polymer (PrPi) frog the PPSi;
• h. collecting the separated PrPi;
• and
• i. repeating steps b through h for each type of target plastic where the index i corresponds to the number of plastic types in the mixture of plastics, where i=1, . . . M and K corresponds to the number of target plastics, where K≤M.

A method of recovery of pristine polymers from a mixture of a plurality of waste feedstock of different types of plastics (mixture of plastics) each containing organic additives, comprising:

• a. inputting the mixture of the plurality of waste feedstock into an extractor;
• b. selecting a solvent mixture (SMi) from a plurality of solvents, where each solvent of the plurality is in a predetermined list of solvents, Hansen parameters of the selected solvent mixture are within the Hansen's sphere of a target plastic of the mixture of plastics;
• and
• c. inputting the selected SMi into the extractor, thereby generating a mixture (Mi);
• d. selectively heating the Mi to a temperature ranging from 5° C. to 180° C. corresponding to a schedule of temperatures vs. known type of plastic;
• e. waiting a predetermined amount of time, thereby forming a polymer solution containing the organic additives (PSlOi);
• f. separating insolubles from the PSlOi, forming a pristine polymer solution with organic additives (PPSlOi);
• g. adsorbing the PPSlOi using one or more adsorbents for the organic additives to thereby remove organic additives forming a pristine polymer solution (PPSi);
• h. separating the pristine polymer (PrPi) from the PPSi;
• and
• i. collecting the separated PrPi;
• and
• j. repeating steps b through i for each type of target plastic where the index i corresponds to the number of plastic types in the mixture of plastics, where i=1, . . . M and K corresponds to the number of target plastics, where K≤M.

A method of recovery of hydrocarbon mixtures from a sorted waste feedstock free of organic additives, comprising:

• a. inputting a predetermined volume of a hydrothermal solvent into a reactor, the hydrothermal solvent comprising H2O;
• b. inputting the feedstock into the reactor;
• c. heating the reactor to a temperature ranging from 200° C. to 550° C., forming subcritical or supercritical H2O within the reactor;
• d. waiting a predetermined amount of time, to allow thermal depolymerization of polymers in the feedstock to produce a slurry;
• e. cooling the reactor to a predetermined recovery temperature, thereby forming a mixture of gas, hydrocarbons, and water mixture;
• f. venting the gas forming a hydrocarbon-water mixture;
• and
• g. separating the hydrocarbon mixture from the hydrocarbon-water mixture.

A method of recovery of hydrocarbon mixtures from a sorted waste feedstock containing organic additives, comprising:

• a. inputting a predetermined volume of a hydrothermal solvent into a reactor, the hydrothermal solvent comprising H2O;
• b. inputting the feedstock into the reactor;
• c. heating the reactor to a temperature ranging from 200° C. to 550° C., forming subcritical or supercritical H2O within the reactor;
• d. waiting a predetermined amount of time, to allow thermal depolymerization of polymers in the feedstock;
• e. cooling the reactor to a predetermined recovery temperature, thereby forming a mixture of gas, hydrocarbons, additives, and water;
• f. venting the gas forming a hydrocarbon-water-additives mixture;
• g. adsorbing the hydrocarbon-water-additives mixture using one or more adsorbents for the organic additives to thereby remove organic additives thereby forming a hydrocarbon-water mixture;
• and
• h. separating the hydrocarbon mixture from the hydrocarbon-water mixture.

A method of recovery of pristine polymers and hydrocarbon mixtures from a mixture of a plurality of waste feedstock of different types of plastics (mixture of plastics) each free of organic additives, comprising:

• a. inputting the mixture of the plurality of waste feedstock into an extractor;
• b. selecting a solvent mixture (SMi) from a plurality of solvents, Hansen parameters of the selected solvent mixture are within the Hansen's sphere of a target plastic of the mixture of plastics and where each solvent of the plurality is in a predetermined list of solvents;
• c. inputting the selected SMi into the extractor, thereby generating a mixture (Mi);
• d. selectively heating the Mi to a temperature ranging from 5° C. to 180° C. corresponding to a schedule of temperature vs. known type of plastic;
• e. waiting a predetermined amount of time, thereby forming a polymer solution (PSli) containing a mixture of solvents and polymers;
• f. separating insolubles from the PSli, forming a pristine polymer solution (PPSi), wherein the insolubles are provided to the extractor during a next cycle (i+1);
• g. separating the pristine polymer (PrPi) from the PPSi;
• h. collecting the separated PrPi;
• i. repeating steps b through h for each type of target plastic where the index i corresponds to the number of plastic types in the mixture of plastics, where i=1, . . . M and K corresponds to the number of target plastics, where K≤M, wherein the insolubles from the last iteration of the loop of steps b through h is provided into a reactor;
• j. inputting a predetermined volume of hydrothermal solvent into the reactor, the hydrothermal solvent comprising H2O;
• k. heating the reactor to a temperature ranging from 200° C. to 550° C., forming subcritical or supercritical H2O within the reactor;
• l. waiting a predetermined amount of time, to allow thermal depolymerization of polymers in the feedstock to produce a slurry;
• m. cooling the reactor to a predetermined recovery temperature, thereby forming a mixture of gas, hydrocarbons, and water mixture;
• n. venting the gas forming a hydrocarbon-water mixture;
• and
• o. separating the hydrocarbon mixture from the hydrocarbon-water mixture.

A method of recovery of pristine polymers and hydrocarbon mixtures from a mixture of a plurality of waste feedstock of different types of plastics (mixture of plastics) each containing organic additives, including Selective Sequential Extraction and Adsorption (SSEA) steps:

• a. inputting the mixture of the plurality of waste feedstock into an extractor;
• b. selecting a solvent mixture (SMi) from a plurality of solvents, where each solvent of the plurality is in a predetermined list of solvents;
• Hansen parameters of the solvent mixture are within the Hansen's sphere of a target plastic of the mixture of plastics, and
• c. inputting the selected SMi into the extractor, thereby generating a mixture (Mi);
• d. selectively heating the Mi to a temperature ranging from 5° C. to 180° C. corresponding to a schedule of temperature vs. known type of plastic;
• e. waiting a predetermined amount of time, thereby forming a polymer solution containing the organic additives (PSlOi);
• f. separating insolubles from the PSlOi, forming a pristine polymer solution with organic additives (PPSlOi);
• g. treating the PPSlOi using one or more adsorbents for the organic additives to thereby remove organ additives forming a pristine polymer solution (PPSi);
• h. separating the pristine polymer (PrPi) from the PPSi;
• and
• i. collecting the separated PrPi;
• j. repeating steps b through i for each type of target plastic where the index i corresponds to the number of plastic types in the mixture of plastics, where i=1, . . . M and K corresponds to the number of target plastics, where K≤M, wherein the insolubles from the last ration of the loop of steps b through i is provided into a reactor where a Hydrothermal Processing (HTP) steps includes:
• k. inputting a predetermined volume of a hydrothermal solvent into the reactor, the hydrothermal solvent comprising H2O;
• l. heating the reactor to a temperature ranging from 200° C. to 550° C., forming subcritical or supercritical H2O within the reactor;
• m. waiting a predetermined amount of time, to allow thermal depolymerization of polymers in the feedstock;
• n. cooling the reactor to a predetermined recovery temperature, thereby forming a mixture of gas, hydrocarbons, additives, and water;
• o. venting the gas forming a hydrocarbon-water-additives mixture;
• p. treating the hydrocarbon-water-additives mixture using one or more adsorbents for the organic additives to thereby remove organic additives, thereby forming a hydrocarbon-water mixture;
• and
• q. separating the hydrocarbon mixture from the hydrocarbon-water mixture.