Abstract This research compares the environmental effects of polypropylene (PP) waste chemical depolymerization based on a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The analysis conforms to ISO 14040/14044 and EN15804 and applies the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method. The modeling was performed with Mobius software and the Ecoinvent v3.9 database, taking climate change, acidification, and freshwater ecotoxicity into account. The findings show that chemical depolymerization lowers greenhouse gas emissions by 25 %, acidification by 30 %, and freshwater ecotoxicity by 40 % in comparison with the production of virgin PP. The most significant environmental hotspots were residuals disposed of to landfill and energy use. Sensitivity analysis showed that 100 % renewable energy could further decrease emissions by 35 % and fossil resource depletion by 60 %. This research concludes that chemical depolymerization is a sustainable alternative to virgin PP manufacturing. Increased catalyst efficiency, improvement in energy sourcing, and waste handling are required to maximize overall sustainability.
Bathini et al. (Fri,) studied this question.