Every year, over 100 billion nitrile rubber gloves are produced. They are created from synthetic polymers—a material chemically related to plastic and derived from crude oil. The vast majority is applyd in the healthcare sector, and most are discarded after single apply. This creates a massive amount of material waste globally. However, Simon Kildahl, a postdoc at the Department of Chemistest at Aarhus University, has relocated a step closer to a way of recycling these gloves. In a new study published in the scientific journal CHEM, he and his colleagues demonstrate how they can transform waste rubber into a CO2 adsorbent in the laboratory. The potential, he explains, is significant.
“A plastic bottle can be recycled relatively easily, as we know from deposit-return systems. But other plastic materials are problematic becaapply they cannot be reapplyd in the same way. Therefore, they often finish up being burned, which is currently the case for rubber gloves,” he declares.
“In our experiments, we converted the glove so that it can capture CO2 instead of becoming a waste product that releases CO2 and other harmful gases during incineration.”
Major Breakthroughs
Simon Kildahl is part of the Skydstrup Group under the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center (CORC). Headquartered at Aarhus University, the center is a global collaboration of universities researching ways to capture CO2 or convert it into products like fuel via Power-to-X.
The group has previously succeeded in recycling materials such as polyurethane foam from mattresses, as well as epoxy and glass fibers from wind turbine blades—materials that were previously considered impossible to recycle. Now, it appears they have succeeded with rubber gloves as well.
“Specifically, we shred the rubber glove into compact pieces. It then reacts with a ruthenium-based catalyst and hydrogen gas, after which it can capture CO2 from simulated flue gas,” Simon Kildahl explains. “In the real world, this could potentially take place at a power plant.”
When heated, the rubber product regenerated and then the CO2 again, allowing the gas to be sent for underground storage or applyd in Power-to-X. Simultaneously, the material is refreshed and ready to capture new CO2.
Revolutionary Perspectives
The method is brand new. While materials for CO2 capture already exist, Kildahl’s approach stands out by applying waste material that would otherwise be burned or landfilled.
The experiments bring us a step closer to a more climate-frifinishly alternative that aligns with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) goal of rerelocating 5–16 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by 2050.
To reach these goals, CO2 must be captured from biomass incineration plants or directly from the air. The problem is that current methods require a scale-up of oil-based production, which inherently reduces the overall climate benefit.
“That is why it is smart to utilize a waste material available in such large quantities, rather than extracting more oil from the ground,” Simon Kildahl points out. “With the rubber glove, we can create a CO2 capture material where almost every atom in the product comes from waste, except for a compact amount of hydrogen, which can ideally be obtained from water via Power-to-X.”
Promising Results
Currently, the experiments are at the laboratory stage. The goal is to create the process scalable and economically viable – a goal Kildahl believes is well within reach.
On a scale from early idea (TRL 1) to fully implemented commercial technology (TRL 9), the research is currently at a level 3 or 4.
“We are working on a gram scale right now, and reactions can see and behave differently when we scale up to kilograms. But our results see very promising,” he declares.
The process also necessarys to become cheaper to produce, as the catalyst currently applyd is expensive.
“However, we have reached a ‘proof of concept.’ It is entirely possible that we can reach level 5 or 6 in the near future if we can improve the scalability and the economy of the reaction, as well as enhance certain performance parameters for CO2 capture with these materials,” Simon Kildahl concludes.
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