(96b) Developing Strategies for Polymer Redesign and Recycling Using Reaction Pathway Analysis

The current lack of sustainability of and limited portfolio of recycling processes for synthetic polymers have posed serious threats to the environment. Annual production of plastics is expected to reach over 1 billion tons in 2050, but the current manufacturing, consumption, and disposal schemes of fossil-based polymers follow an unsustainable framework. Using reaction pathway analysis, we are pursuing a portfolio of strategies for redesign and recycling of polymers for sustainability.

Pyrolysis is a promising method for resource recovery that thermally converts polymers in the absence of oxygen into valuable chemical feedstocks and monomer. To provide further insight into polymer pyrolysis, a greater understanding of the mechanistic and kinetic details of the underlying reaction network is needed. We have developed both continuum and kinetic Monte Carlo models to study the degradation of polystyrene, polypropylene, polyisoprene, polystyrene peroxide and binary mixtures.

Alternatively, redesign efforts focusing on polymers that can be reused and recycled to monomers can lead to sustainable solutions for the plastics waste problem. We have developed a framework for molecule discovery and reaction pathway design that can be used to screen for bioprivileged candidates and target molecules. The application to discovery of known and novel monomers for poly(hydroxyurethanes) that are derived from biobased molecules and lead to recyclable materials will be discussed, and computational methods to evaluate the recyclability of different polymers will be outlined.

Through this technical presentation, the influence of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (CRE) Division of AIChE on my career trajectory will be highlighted. From my early days as a graduate student presenting in the annual Reaction Path Analysis session started by Klein and Virk through my time as chair of the division to today, CRE has been an invigorating and welcoming community of scholars that I have been fortunate to call my home within AIChE.