José Carlos Pinto

Biography

José Carlos graduated in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Federal da Bahia (1985), obtained a MSc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1987) and a DSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1991). He is currently Professor Titular of Programa de Engenharia Química of COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and member of Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Processos Químicos e Bioquímicos of Escola de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. José Carlos is a member of the editorial committee of Polímeros: Ciência e Tecnologia (edited by ABPol), Macromolecular Reaction Engineering (edited by Wiley) and Processes (edited by MDPI). José Carlos has been a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences since 2010 and of the National Engineering Academy since 2014. José Carlos has experience in Chemical Engineering, with emphasis on general chemical reactors, and particular emphasis in the area of modeling, simulation and control of polymerization systems. More especifically, tesearch activities have been concentrated on the development of sustainable and circular polymerization processes and products, by combining the use of renewable monomers with chemical recycling technologies, including pyrolysis.

Abstract

Development of chemical recycling technologies is of paramount importance for development of a sustainable circular plastics chain. In this context, pyrolysis technologies are experiencing fast development, as they are complementary to mechanical recycling, are robust and little sensitive to feed composition, can be used to prevent the wrong disposal of post-consumer plastics (mostly polyolefins) and to reduce the environmental impacts caused by the plastics business. However, although it has been widely accepted that pyrolysis can constitute an essential technology for the present and the future, many practical issues remain open for technical and strategic discussions, including the challenges for increase of scale, the proper determination of process sustainability indexes, the role of contaminants on product performances, the combination with catalysts and other technologies that can be used to boost the process performances, the most appropriate business models to be implemented, among others [1-4]. For this reason, in the present manuscript some of the main advancements and challenges related to development and implementation of pyrolysis processes are discussed. Emphasis is given to processing of real post-consumer plastic streams and combination with alternative technologies that can allow the more effective construction of a sustainable circular chain for the plastics business.

References

  1. P.M, Costa, D.M.V. Miranda, A.C.C. Oliveira, L. Falcon, M.S.S. Pimenta, I.G. Bessa, S.J. Wouters, M.H.S. Andrade & J.C. Pinto, Capture and Reuse of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for a Plastics Circular Economy: A Review, Processes, 9, 5, 759, 2021.. (DOI: 10.3390/pr9050759)
  2. P.M. Costa, D.M.V. Miranda & J.C. Pinto, Critical Evaluation of Life Cycle Assessment Analyses of Plastic Waste Pyrolysis, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 10,12, 3799-3807, 2022.. (DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c00265)
  3. P.M. Costa, D.M.V. Miranda, C. Cardoso & J.C. Pinto, A Short-Cut Method for Analysis of Catalyst Performances in Pyrolytic Reactors, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 174, 106121, 2023.. (DOI: 10.1016/j.jaap.2023.106121)
  4. C. Pinto et al., A Survey on the Chemical Recycling of Polyolefins into Monomers, to be submitted, 2024.