Chemical Recycling of Polyethylene by Tandem Catalytic Conversion to Propylene
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Abstract
Although polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are by far the world's largest volume plastics, only a tiny fraction of these energy-rich polyolefins are currently recycled. Depolymerization of PE to its constituent monomer, ethylene, is highly endothermic and conventionally accessible only through unselective, high-temperature pyrolysis. Here, we provide experimental demonstrations of our recently proposed tandem catalysis strategy, which uses ethylene to convert PE to propylene, the commodity monomer used to make PP. The approach combines rapid olefin metathesis with rate-limiting isomerization. Monounsaturated PE is progressively disassembled at modest temperatures via many consecutive ethenolysis events, resulting selectively in propylene. Fully saturated PE can be converted to unsaturated PE starting with a single transfer dehydrogenation to ethylene, which produces a small amount of ethane (1 equiv per dehydrogenation event). These principles are demonstrated using both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. While selectivity under batch conditions is limited at high conversion by the formation of an equilibrium mixture of olefins, high selectivity to propylene (≥94%) is achieved in a semicontinuous process due to the continuous removal of propylene from the reaction mixture.
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- Authors
- Wang, N. M., Strong, G., DaSilva, V., Gao, L., Huacuja, R., Konstantinov, I. A., Rosen, M. S., Nett, A. J., Ewart, S., Geyer, R., Scott, S. L., & Guironnet, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Dow Chemical (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Scott, Susannah L.
- Guironnet, Damien
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2022-09-30
- Volume
- 144
- Issue
- 40
- Pages
- 18526-18531
- ISSN
- 0002-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5126
- OpenAlex
- W4298088356
- Cited by
- 259
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 82 · 2024: 71 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 5
- FWCI
- 20.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of the American Chemical Society (publishedVersion)
- ChemRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Dow Chemical Company (RPS 226772AM)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Organometallic Complex Synthesis and Catalysis
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Synthetic Organic Chemistry Methods
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Keywords
- polyethylene recycling, chemical recycling, tandem catalysis, propylene production, olefin metathesis, ethylene, ethenolysis, isomerization, transfer dehydrogenation, polypropylene, polyolefins, homogeneous catalysts, heterogeneous catalysts, semi-continuous process, olefin selectivity
- MeSH terms
- Alkenes, Catalysis, Ethane, Ethylenes, Plastics, Polypropylenes, Polyethylene
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