(658e) A Population Balance Model for Processive Polymer Upcycling By Catalysts

A processive catalysts associates with a substrate and performs multiple reactions before dissociation, a mechanism used by enzymes to increase efficiency. Recent work by Tennakoon et al. reported a synthetic heterogeneous catalyst for polyethylene upcycling that demonstrates processive behavior. In this work, we embed a microkinetic model for processive depolymerization in a population balance model. The model predicts hallmarks of a processive mechanism in the evolving molecular weight distribution and provides a framework for analysis of experimental data to obtain the underlying catalytic rate parameters.