Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Microwave-initiated catalytic deconstruction of plastic waste into hydrogen and high-value carbons

2020; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 3; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41929-020-00518-5

2520-1158

Xiangyu Jie, Weisong Li, Daniel R. Slocombe, Yige Gao, Ira Banerjee, Sergio González-Cortés, Benzhen Yao, Hamid A. Al‐Megren, Saeed Alshihri, Jonathan R. Dilworth, John Thomas, Tiancun Xiao, Peter P. Edwards,

Municipal Solid Waste Management

The ubiquitous challenge of plastic waste has led to the modern descriptor plastisphere to represent the human-made plastic environment and ecosystem. Here we report a straightforward rapid method for the catalytic deconstruction of various plastic feedstocks into hydrogen and high-value carbons. We use microwaves together with abundant and inexpensive iron-based catalysts as microwave susceptors to initiate the catalytic deconstruction process. The one-step process typically takes 30–90 s to transform a sample of mechanically pulverized commercial plastic into hydrogen and (predominantly) multiwalled carbon nanotubes. A high hydrogen yield of 55.6 mmol $${\mathrm{g}}_{\mathrm{plastic}}^{ - 1}$$ is achieved, with over 97% of the theoretical mass of hydrogen being extracted from the deconstructed plastic. The approach is demonstrated on widely used, real-world plastic waste. This proof-of-concept advance highlights the potential of plastic waste itself as a valuable energy feedstock for the production of hydrogen and high-value carbon materials. The valorisation of plastic waste is highly desirable from an environmental perspective but generally yields low-value products. Now a method is disclosed to deconstruct plastic feedstocks into high-value hydrogen and carbon materials by means of an iron-based catalyst under microwave irradiation.