Catalytic Organic Recycling Engine
A hypothesis for green catalytic plastic recycling using food-grade chemistry instead of toxic metal catalysts.
warning This is our most early-stage division. The approach described below is a hypothesis with chemical logic, but it is largely unproven. Read the full honesty section below.
Over 400 million tonnes of plastic produced annually. Less than 10% is recycled. The rest goes to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean.
Current chemical recycling relies on zinc, tin, and titanium catalysts at extreme temperatures (180-300C). Metal catalyst disposal is itself an environmental problem.
Antimony trioxide, used as a catalyst in PET production, is a concern for recycled food-contact materials. Recycling PET back to food-grade is complicated by trace metal contamination.
Over 500 signatories to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment have pledged to increase recycled content. The demand for recycled plastic feedstock far exceeds current supply. UK plastic tax penalizes packaging with less than 30% recycled content at £210.82 per tonne.
The idea: use food-grade bio-catalysts to break down polyester plastics at moderate temperatures, replacing toxic metal catalysts entirely.
We include this section because we believe in radical transparency. Here is exactly where the science stands.
Everything below is what we think might work based on chemical logic. We have not demonstrated it. An experiment is planned but has not been run yet. We could be completely wrong.
There is very limited published literature on this specific approach to plastic depolymerization. We are not building on a well-established body of research. This is genuinely novel -- which means it could also be genuinely wrong.
We have designed an experiment and purchased the equipment, but we have not run it yet. We have zero experimental data of our own. Claims about performance are purely theoretical at this point.
The fundamental chemistry is plausible -- the catalytic mechanisms are well understood in other contexts. But applying these mechanisms to bulk polymer depolymerization is a different challenge entirely. What works in solution chemistry may not work on solid plastic.
We include C.O.R.E. on our website because we believe in radical transparency. Most companies only show you what works. We think you deserve to see the full picture -- including the things we are still figuring out. If our experiment works, the results would be novel and we will share them. If it does not work, we will say so publicly.
These are not claims. These are reasons we think the hypothesis is worth testing.
A catalyst you could literally eat. No toxic metal waste stream. No hazardous material handling. Biodegradable after use.
Food-grade compounds are commodity chemicals produced at massive scale. If the process works, catalyst cost would be a fraction of specialty metal catalysts.
~130C vs. 180-300C for metal-catalyzed processes. Lower energy input means lower operating cost and smaller carbon footprint -- if the reaction actually works at this temperature.
Every potential advantage listed above depends on the fundamental chemistry actually working for bulk polymer depolymerization. We do not yet know if it does. Green chemistry principles are only meaningful if the chemistry actually performs.