Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 370, Issue 6515, Pages 437-441Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.abc5441
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Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences [DE-AC-02-07CH11358]
- MRSEC Program of the NSF [DMR 1720256]
- NSF
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The current scale of plastics production and the accompanying waste disposal problems represent a largely untapped opportunity for chemical upcycling. Tandem catalytic conversion by platinum supported on g-alumina converts various polyethylene grades in high yields (up to 80 weight percent) to lowmolecular-weight liquid/wax products, in the absence of added solvent or molecular hydrogen, with little production of light gases. The major components are valuable long-chain alkylaromatics and alkylnaphthenes (average similar to C-30, dispersity D = 1.1). Coupling exothermic hydrogenolysis with endothermic aromatization renders the overall transformation thermodynamically accessible despite the moderate reaction temperature of 280 degrees C. This approach demonstrates how waste polyolefins can be a viable feedstock for the generation of molecular hydrocarbon products.
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