Ames Lab: Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory lead charge in plastics “upcycling” research

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Iowa State University’s Office of the Vice President for Research featured Ames Laboratory’s new Energy Frontier Research Center, the Institute for the Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP), in a news article lauding Ames, Iowa as a new “epicenter” of plastics upcycling research.

According to the VPR’s Office, four research projects spearheaded by a mix of Iowa State and Ames Laboratory investigators recently received multiple federal awards to implement upcycling by exploring new ways to repurpose plastic waste into a variety of value-added compounds, from fuel to food. Since the beginning of 2020, Iowa State and Ames Laboratory received research awards that could ultimately total over $20 million.