Catalytic Chemical Recycling of Post-Consumer Polyethylene
Abstract
Among commercial plastics, polyolefins are the most widely produced worldwide but have limited recyclability. Here, we report a chemical recycling route for the conversion of post-consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE) into telechelic macromonomers suitable for circular reprocessing. Unsaturation was introduced into HDPE by catalytic dehydrogenation using an Ir-POCOP catalyst without an alkene acceptor. Cross-metathesis with 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate followed by hydrogenation transformed the partially unsaturated HDPE into telechelic macromonomers. The direct repolymerization of the macromonomers gave a brittle material due to the low overall weight-average molecular weight. Aminolysis of telechelic macromonomers with a small amount of diethanolamine increased the overall functionality. The resulting macromonomers were repolymerized through transesterification to generate a polymer with comparable mechanical properties to the starting post-consumer HDPE waste. Depolymerization of the repolymerized material catalyzed by an organic base regenerated the telechelic macromonomers, thereby allowing waste polyethylene materials to enter a chemical recycling pathway.
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- Authors
- Arroyave, A., Cui, S., Lopez, J. C., Kocen, A. L., LaPointe, A. M., Delferro, M., & Coates, G. W.
- Affiliations
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- LaPointe, Anne M.
- Delferro, Massimiliano
- Coates, Geoffrey W.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2022-12-16
- Volume
- 144
- Issue
- 51
- Pages
- 23280-23285
- ISSN
- 0002-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5126
- OpenAlex
- W4311635554
- Cited by
- 189
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 61 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 35
- FWCI
- 12.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the American Chemical Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Basic Energy Sciences (AC02-07CH11358)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Organometallic Complex Synthesis and Catalysis
- Keywords
- chemical recycling, high-density polyethylene, catalytic dehydrogenation, cross-metathesis, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, hydrogenation, aminolysis, diethanolamine, transesterification, plastic waste
- MeSH terms
- Catalysis, Plastics, Polymers, Waste Products, Polyethylene
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