U.S. Department of Energy's BOTTLE Consortium

Lending its materials science expertise and facilities, NLR's advanced manufacturing researchers provide prototyping and mechanical characterization of advanced composites used in the redesign of recyclable materials.

NLR researcher Stephen H. Dempsey holds a beaker containing enzymes developed by BOTTLE to break down polyethylene terephthalate. Photo by Josh Bauer, National Laboratory of the Rockies

The Bio-Optimized Technologies to keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE™) consortium is developing new chemical upcycling strategies for today's plastics and redesigning tomorrow's plastics to be recyclable-by-design.

BOTTLE conducts high-impact research and development to deliver scalable technologies that enable cost-effective recycling, upcycling, and increased energy efficiency for plastics.

BOTTLE efforts include the development of improved catalytic and biocatalytic recycling strategies to convert today's plastics into chemical intermediates for use in manufacturing performance-enhanced polymers.

Under the BOTTLE research framework, the consortium works to deconstruct waste plastics with catalysis and uses chemical and biological transformations to upcycle the resulting building blocks to produce recyclable polymers. BOTTLE also redesigns new recyclable materials with bio-based and waste-based inputs. Graphic by Elizabeth Stone, National Laboratory of the Rockies

BOTTLE is a multi-organization research consortium led by the U.S. Department of Energy. Visit BOTTLE to learn more and view a complete list of publications.

Partners

This collective effort includes national labs and academic universities. Led by NLR, the research consortium also comprises experts from Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Colorado State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. BOTTLE also closely collaborates with industry partners.

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