On April 11, 2023, Professor Jiawei Wang from Aston University (UK) was invited to visit the School of Energy and Power Engineering and delivered a lecture entitled "Plastic waste to wax for road construction materials" to the School’s academics and students. Hosted by Professor Yang Yang, more than 30 academics and students were in attendance at the lecture.
During the lecture, Professor Wang first introduced his research on the thermochemical conversion of waste plastics and several selected research projects he is responsible for. He then presented detailed results of applying heavy hydrocarbons produced from pyrolysis of plastic as asphalt modifiers. The lecture also proposed the production of high-value chemicals (such as C2-C4, BTX, etc.) from different plastics using catalytic pyrolysis and machine learning for simulation verification. He provided an outlook on the prospects of waste plastics conversion in environmental protection and new materials through various processing and utilization methods.
In the discussion session, Professor Wang and students discussed the impact of waste plastic components, the preparation of carbon nanotubes through pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis, the characteristics of product distribution, and the prospects of photothermal conversion. Regarding the utilization of marine waste plastics, Professor Wang pointed out that marine plastics have a high mineral content and significantly different compositions from regular urban waste plastics. Exploring the efficient recycling and utilization of marine plastic waste is a pressing technical issue that requires collaboration from multiple parties. With the help of the international exchange project "CUPOLA: Carbon-neutral pathways of recycling marine plastic waste" and "BiomassCCU: Biomass gasification with negative carbon emission through innovative CO2 capture and utilization and integration with energy storage," coordinated by Professor Wang and funded by Horizon Europe, he invited students and academics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology to visit Aston University and conduct in-depth collaborative research.
Professor Yang Haiping indicated that in the context of the dual-carbon target, in-depth exploration of waste plastic transformation and utilization has significant importance. This lecture promotes students' positive impact on the development and construction of disciplines such as waste plastic pyrolysis utilization. It also inspires participating faculty and students to think about the prospects of biomass energy materials development and lays a foundation for promoting more cooperation between the two universities, as well as proposing a beautiful vision for organizing learning exchanges between the two countries.
About the Speaker:
Professor Jiawei Wang graduated from Tsinghua University and the University of Nottingham in the UK. He is currently the head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at Aston University. He is an expert on thermal conversion of biomass and solid waste, and products application. He has led (and participated) in 14 major research projects, including those funded by the European Union and the UK, with a total scientific research project funding of nearly RMB 20 million. He has close collaborations with universities and research institutions in China, Kuwait, Turkey, Germany, France, Egypt, and other countries. He has published more than 80 papers in international well-known journals, including Nature Chemistry, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Chemical Engineering Journal, Energy Conversion and Management, etc.
written by Liu Juping
