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Polyethylene upcycling to long-chain alkylaromatics by tandem hydrogenolysis/aromatization

2020; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 370; Issue: 6515 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.abc5441

1095-9203

Fan Zhang, Manhao Zeng, Ryan Yappert, Jia‐Kai Sun, Yu-Hsuan Lee, Anne M. LaPointe, Baron Peters, Mahdi M. Abu‐Omar, Susannah L. Scott,

biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties

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