An integrated techno-economic and life cycle assessment of lubricant production from polyolefin waste streams

Approximately 150 MT of polyolefin (PO) waste is generated annually, corresponding to the equivalent of ca. 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil are lost into receiving environments (e.g., landfills and oceans). With upcycling of waste POs into high-value lubricants, our aim is to recover the value in the carbon-carbon bonds of these waste materials to produce value-added products. In order to deconstruct post-consumer waste polyolefins, a modular reactor system at bench-scale is developed to produce lubricants from the PO waste streams. A systematic analysis of the relationships between technical, economic, and environmental performance is conducted to understand the trade-off between economic and environmental performance. A techno-economic analysis framework for conceptual understanding of LOUP production is developed using an integrated systems-engineering approach. The initial framework for lifecycle analysis has also been established using the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model to evaluate the environmental impacts of chemical conversion of pure and mixed-stream plastic POs into lubricants. This study also provides the initial results from the first high-resolution material flow analysis of fossil-based lubricants flows through the U.S. economy, including historical data on manufacturing, consumption, stocks, and waste management. This analysis also includes how upcycling plastics waste can influence the supply chain and downstream markets of lubricants and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.