(661l) Catalysis Conversion of Poms into Renewable Monomers for Degradable Plastics

POM-based plastics have been widely used as important supporting parts for numerous industrial applications. However, disposal of waste POM materials has cause significant environmental problems. In this work, we proposed an interesting one-pot conversion and separation process, where POM is transformed into ethers and esters with cellulosic biomass substrates. The resultant products from POM transformation can be easily integrated with current manufacture processes for bio-degradable plastics.

Homogeneous metal cation catalysts were investigated for facile conversion of waste POM near room temperature. The reaction mechanism involving depolymerization of POM substrate, coordinative catalysis by Lewis acidic sites of metal complex catalysts and kinetic modeling of POM degradation will be presented. The process design and energy optimization will also be discussed in this paper.