TY - JOUR
T1 - Plastic waste to fuels by hydrocracking at mild conditions
AU - Liu, Sibao
AU - Kots, Pavel A.
AU - Vance, Brandon C.
AU - Danielson, Andrew
AU - Vlachos, Dionisios G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 The Authors.
PY - 2021/4/21
Y1 - 2021/4/21
N2 - Single-use plastics impose an enormous environmental threat, but their recycling, especially of polyolefins, has been proven challenging. We report a direct method to selectively convert polyolefins to branched, liquid fuels including diesel, jet, and gasoline-range hydrocarbons, with high yield up to 85% over Pt/WO3/ZrO2 and HY zeolite in hydrogen at temperatures as low as 225°C. The process proceeds via tandem catalysis with initial activation of the polymer primarily over Pt, with subsequent cracking over the acid sites of WO3/ZrO2 and HY zeolite, isomerization over WO3/ZrO2 sites, and hydrogenation of olefin intermediates over Pt. The process can be tuned to convert different common plastic wastes, including low-and high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, everyday polyethylene bottles and bags, and composite plastics to desirable fuels and light lubricants.
AB - Single-use plastics impose an enormous environmental threat, but their recycling, especially of polyolefins, has been proven challenging. We report a direct method to selectively convert polyolefins to branched, liquid fuels including diesel, jet, and gasoline-range hydrocarbons, with high yield up to 85% over Pt/WO3/ZrO2 and HY zeolite in hydrogen at temperatures as low as 225°C. The process proceeds via tandem catalysis with initial activation of the polymer primarily over Pt, with subsequent cracking over the acid sites of WO3/ZrO2 and HY zeolite, isomerization over WO3/ZrO2 sites, and hydrogenation of olefin intermediates over Pt. The process can be tuned to convert different common plastic wastes, including low-and high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, everyday polyethylene bottles and bags, and composite plastics to desirable fuels and light lubricants.
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U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.abf8283
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.abf8283
M3 - Article
C2 - 33883142
AN - SCOPUS:85105072503
SN - 2375-2548
VL - 7
JO - Science Advances
JF - Science Advances
IS - 17
M1 - eabf8283
ER -