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Plastic recycling and efficient solar storage.

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They’re two of the world’s biggest challenges.

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Thomas Maschmeyer decided to tackle both.

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"One of the ways I approach my science is to look at a problem that really irks me.

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It's there and I'm a scientist, technologist,

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so can I do something about it?"

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His solution to plastic waste is known as the Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor.

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It uses water at supercritical temperatures to convert end-of-life mixed plastics into recycled oil.

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Yes, oil.

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Nature takes millions of years to create oil.

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Professor Maschmeyer’s reactor can do it in less than 30 minutes,

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using materials that are currently clogging landfill and polluting our waterways.

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"And if we don't do anything different by 2050,

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we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish, and that's just not acceptable. 

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So it's really about changing the conversation, 

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making the problem of plastic into an opportunity."

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The world uses around 100 million barrels of fossil oil every day,

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so his reactor technology could help power a circular economy.

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The process has been successfully trialled on the central coast of New South Wales

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and is now set to be rolled out commercially by Licella Holdings, a company he co-founded 13 years ago.

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“So, the plants pay themselves after four years 

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and they should run for a minimum of 20."

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Professor Maschmeyer’s work on energy storage is equally game-changing.

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Research conducted by his team at the University of Sydney 

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has translated into a new form of solar-energy battery.

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And unlike lithium-ion, it doesn’t overheat.

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"Our battery is completely different.

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It's zinc-bromine chemistry, which loves the heat.

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We perform best at 45 degrees, you know, where everything else dies.

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And we love going to zero state of charge."

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That makes it perfect for harsh mining or agricultural settings or anywhere off-the-grid.

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"The appetite for solar battery solutions in those areas is huge

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and the world's really waiting for that to replace the dirty and expensive diesel gen-sets,

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in terms of running them over a 10 year period, 

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to replace them with a no-liquid fuel kind of situation,

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just solar panels and batteries. Huge appetite."

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Professor Maschmeyer hopes his technology will assist the switch to a battery-powered world.

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"I love technology translation 

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and the latter half of my career has been dedicated to that,

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to really attack some of the big, challenging, physical problems of our planet."

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And that work has seen Professor Maschmeyer awarded the David Craig Medal,

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which recognises outstanding contributions to chemistry.