Members of Dr. Toraman’s group celebrated the end of the year with a potluck enjoy representing a variety of cultures.

Our paper on Characterization Polyolefins-Based Pyrolysis Oils: A Comparison between One-Dimensional Gas Chromatography and Two Dimensional Gas Chromatography is published. The characterization of pyrolysis products is essential for the development of precise and accurate kinetic models. The resolution of pyrolysis products analyzed using traditional analytical methods may be compromised, resulting in inaccurate product identification and overlapped peaks.

In our study, we showed that GC×GC significantly improved peak resolution and identification of products.
Interaction effects were observed in the co-pyrolysis of PP-PS and HDPE-PS and accurately identified and quantified using GC×GC.
New products were detected in the co-pyrolysis of PP-PS and accurately identified and quantified using GC×GC.

Congratulations to Bárbara Pérez and Jayarama Krishna!

Dr. Toraman’s group members (Dr. Toraman, Jayarama Krishna, and Do Hyun Lee) had the pleasure of attending the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego, where the Remade team (Dr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Mikyung Hwang, Shirin Asadi, Do Hyun) presented the project funded by the Remade Institute on Chemical Recycling of Mixed Plastics and.

Jayarama gave three talks related to recent works on pyrolysis studies funded by the Remade Institute and Dow Chemicals, while Do Hyun presented the results of the catalytic pyrolysis of PET and PP.

Dr. Toraman, Praneetha, and Do Hyun attended the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering Research Showcase. Praneetha shared the result on the pyrolysis of EvOH, while Do Hyun shared the result of zeolite desilication for catalytic co-pyrolysis of PET and PP.

Dr. Toraman and group members (Sean Okonsky, Praneetha Buddha, Do Hyun Lee, and Emir Salmanzadeh) had the pleasure of attending the 2024 Annual Symposium of Pittsburgh-Cleveland Catalysis Society in Pittsburgh, PA, where Dr. Toraman hosted a chair of Pittsburgh-Cleveland Catalysis Society. Dr. Toraman’s group members (Sean Okonsky, Praneetha Buddha, and Do Hyun Lee) presented their posters for their recent works.

Publication alert: Dr. Toraman’s group released two papers demonstrating how GC and GCxGC contribute to determining product composition and understanding the decomposition of plastic additives, focusing on antioxidants. This work showed that GCxGC allowed the identification of up to 11 times more peaks than GC in the decomposition of antioxidants, achieving a comprehensive analysis of the pyrolysis product distribution and providing their quantification. Congratulations to Bárbara Pérez and Rowfi Khan!

Dr. Toraman had the pleasure of attending the Remade Conference in Washington D.C., where the Remade team (Dr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Farhad Zaker Hosseiny, Md Nurus Sakib, Dr. Rui Shi) presented the project funded by the Remade Institute on Chemical Recycling of Mixed Plastics. The presentation, led by Farhad Zaker, one of the PhD students at Penn State, delved into the intricacies of technoeconomic analysis for catalytic pyrolysis of Polypropylene (PP).

Congratulation to Do Hyun for passing his qualifying exam!

Congratulations to Emir for passing his qualifying exam!

Publication alert (Open Access)! This work is published as part of the invitation to contribute for 2024 Futures Issue of the AIChE Journal. In our work entitled as “Effect of pyrolysis operating conditions on the catalytic co-pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate with zeolite catalysts”, we clearly showed how pyrolysis operating conditions, such as the pyrolysis temperature, the catalyst to feedstock (CF) ratio, and the LDPE:PET ratio affect product yields. We focused on industrially important zeolite catalysts such as HZSM-5 and HY zeolite catalysts. PET is considered as an undesired feedstock for pyrolysis but PET is either inherently present as part of the plastic material or can be present as an impurity. It is important to understand how it affects yields when they are present at varying conditions. Congratulations to Sean Okonsky and Neil Hogan!

Publication alert: Dr. Toraman’s group recently published a paper on Conversion of Polypropylene into Light hydrocarbons and benzene, toluene, xylene (BTX) aromatics as high-demand petrochemical feedstocks via catalytic pyrolysis on acidic zeolites. Bro̷nsted and Lewis acid sites are responsible for cracking polyolefins into olefins and subsequent aromatic formation. In this study, we have subjected the parent HZSM-5 zeolite to post-synthetic partial metal exchange with Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Ce cations to perturb Bro̷nsted/Lewis acidity. We have investigated these metal-modified HZSM-5 on the catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene (PP) in a micropyrolyzer connected to a two-dimensional gas chromatograph coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer and flame ionization detector (Tandem Pyrolyzer-GC × GC-TOF-MS/FID setup) along with catalyst characterization. Congratulations to Ozge Bozkurt for this great work!

Publication alert: Dr. Toraman’s group developed an experimental framework combined with the design of experiments and dimensionality reduction technique: principal component analysis for validating the intrinsic kinetic conditions for polyethylene pyrolysis. This study clearly shows the importance of selecting the right experimental parameters to minimize transport limitations while minimizing secondary gas phase reactions. This study combined reaction engineering, advanced analytics: GCxGC and datascience. Congratulations to Jayarama Krishna and Bárbara Pérez!

Congratulations to Dr. Sean Okonsky for defending his Ph.D. dissertation!

Dr. Toraman had the pleasure of attending the Remade Conference in Washington D.C., where the Remade team (Dr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Farhad Zaker Hosseiny, Md Nurus Sakib, Dr. Rui Shi) presented the project funded by the Remade Institute on Chemical Recycling of Mixed Plastics. The presentation, led by Farhad Zaker, one of the PhD students at Penn State, delved into the intricacies of technoeconomic analysis for catalytic pyrolysis of Polypropylene (PP).

Publication Alert! Very delighted to share the most recent publication from a project funded by the Remade Institute that developed a web-based data storage and analysis center for chemical recycling of mixed plastics. Congratulations to the whole team: Nan Zhang, Connor Heaton, Sean Okonsky, Prasenjit Mitra, Hilal Ezgi Toraman.

Interdisciplinary Talk by Prof. Toraman: Waste to Resource: Sustainable Plastic Management for a Circular Global Economy.

Professor Toraman recently delivered an insightful interdisciplinary talk titled “Waste to Resource: Sustainable Plastic Management for a Circular Global Economy” at The Millennium Café.

Uniting Through Diversity: The Toraman Research Group at the Energy and Mineral Engineering Cultural Potluck, January 26, 2024 – Celebrating Traditions and Cultures from Around the World.

Congratulations to Rowfi Khan for showcasing his research work on “In-Depth Analysis of Common Antioxidant Decomposition: A Comparative Study Using Two-Dimensional and One-Dimensional Gas Chromatography” in Materials Day 2023, organized by Penn State University.