The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), under the Ministry of Science and ICT (President Park Sang-jin), is advancing the dream of permanent reuse of waste organic materials, such as waste plastics.

On the 29th, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) launched the 'Plasma-based Waste Organic Material High Value-added Basic Raw Material Conversion Project Group (hereinafter the Project Group, Director Song Young-hoon)' at its headquarters in Daejeon and held a plaque unveiling ceremony.

The project team will invest a total of 27 billion won in research funds to develop technology for the permanent reuse of waste organic materials, such as waste plastics, with support from the Innovation Challenge Project promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lee Jong-ho) and the Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Hwa-jin).

A total of 16 institutions are participating in the project consortium, including government-funded research institutes such as the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, as well as universities such as KAIST, Seoul National University, POSTECH, Sogang University, and Yonsei University.

The project team focuses on developing innovative technologies to resolve the problem of organic waste, such as waste plastics, that occurred in large quantities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to achieve carbon neutrality goals that have become urgent due to the global climate crisis.

To this end, we plan to accelerate research with the goal of realizing an innovative concept that converts various types of waste organic materials, such as waste oil, waste organic solvents, and waste plastics, into ethylene, a basic raw material for plastics.

In particular, a technology has been developed that converts waste plastics into ethylene and propylene through a single process without a sorting step, enabling permanent reuse.If this happens, oil consumption could drastically decrease, and it is expected to play a leading role in responding to climate change.

Song Young-hoon, head of the project team, stated, “While converting waste plastics into fuel through incineration, pyrolysis, or gasification is difficult to achieve as a carbon-neutral solution, enabling the permanent reuse of waste plastics will not only reduce waste and petroleum consumption but also accelerate the realization of carbon neutrality.” He added, “We will strive to secure the capability for Korea to lead global carbon-neutral technology through the verification and realization of this innovative concept.”