Background

New disposal and recycling methods are critical to solving the world’s plastic waste epidemic. Chemical recycling methods such as pyrolysis can be part of the solution, but they fall short in terms of the quality of the output, and the energy expense in heating materials above 500°C. Catalytic approaches can improve the selectivity and energy efficiency of pyrolytic methods, but they still produce low value liquids and gases, and they suffer from low catalyst stability during high temperature operation. A catalytic approach that is capable of upcycling petrochemical-derived plastics would be a suitable solution for this fundamental issue.