‘Atomic scissors’ tackle plastic pollution

A new hydrocracking method paves the way for higher-yield, lower-cost plastic recycling

Spotted: Researchers estimate that only around nine per cent of global plastic waste is recycled, with an enormous 79 per cent ending up in landfills or in nature. Traditional recycling methods are hampered by inefficiencies, with mechanical processes reducing the plastic’s quality, and chemical techniques demanding high temperatures and intense energy. Repolywise, a startup founded by Oxford University graduates, is addressing this challenge with its ‘Atomic Scissors’ technology. 

Developed with the support of Innovate UK grants, Atomic Scissors use an innovative hydrocracking process. This snips plastics into chains that are three carbon atoms long, commonly known as propane molecules. Not only does this break down the plastic, the propane generated is of high enough quality to make food-grade plastics in turn. This creates a truly circular value chain with 100 per cent recycled content and zero loss of material quality.

Atomic Scissors chemically targets polyolefin plastics, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, which account for half of global plastic production. This also means that waste streams don’t need to be pre-sorted to be recycled. 

Repolywise Founder and CEO Dr. Bryan Ng spoke to Springwise, explaining what makes the technology so revolutionary: “Importantly, this is a one-step process, which both lowers the energy requirement and also reduces the complexity of the ‘mass balance’ calculation. (…) Repolywise sees a broad range of applications for the Atomic Scissors’ technology owing to its versatility of the types of input materials.” 

The company is in the early stages of scaling the Atomic Scissors technology, which currently operates at lab scale to process two-gram batches of plastic at a time. The next phase will quickly increase capacity to two kilogrammes, with a target of commercialising the technology to handle up to two tonnes in a continuous flow process by late 2025. In order to do this, Repolywise has established itself at the Oxford University Begbroke Science Park with strong ambition to bring this potentially game-changing solution to the market.

Written By: Oscar Williams