Polyethylene upcycling to long-chain alkylaromatics by tandem hydrogenolysis/aromatization
Open accessAbstract
A new future for polyethylene: Most current plastic recycling involves chopping up the waste and repurposing it in materials with less stringent engineering requirements than the original application. Chemical decomposition at the molecular level could, in principle, lead to higher-value products. However, the carbon-carbon bonds in polyethylene, the most common plastic, tend to resist such approaches without exposure to high-pressure hydrogen. F. Zhang et al. now report that a platinum/alumina catalyst can transform waste polyethylene directly into long-chain alkylbenzenes, a feedstock for detergent manufacture, with no need for external hydrogen (see the Perspective by Weckhuysen). Science , this issue p. 437 ; see also p. 400
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- Authors
- Zhang, F., Zeng, M., Yappert, R. D., Sun, J., Lee, Y.-H., LaPointe, A. M., Peters, B., Abu-Omar, M. M., & Scott, S. L.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
- Cornell University (US)
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Fan
- Zeng, Manhao
- Scott, Susannah L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2020-10-23
- Volume
- 370
- Issue
- 6515
- Pages
- 437-441
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W3094505816
- Cited by
- 882
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 147 · 2025: 202 · 2024: 190 · 2023: 158 · 2022: 117 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 54.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Iowa State University Digital Repository (Iowa State University) (submittedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- DRYAD (public-domain)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC-02-07CH11358)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Inorganic Chemistry › Zeolite Catalysis and Synthesis
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Catalysis for Biomass Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Keywords
- polyethylene upcycling, waste plastic recycling, platinum-alumina catalyst, C–C bond cleavage, chemical recycling
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