Invited Talk: Catalytic Upcycling of Polyolefins

With the majority of plastics used to date being single-use and because of the lengthy time for their natural degradation, new pathways are needed to efficiently and economically re-use these materials. Chemical transformation of waste plastic to create higher value products, known as upcycling, is an emerging area of research. Low-density polyethylene recycling, for example, is extremely limited at this time, and the potential of upcycling these materials could be part a multi-pronged solution for handling existing waste and moving away from single-use plastics. Here, we discuss pathways to catalytically deconstruct waste plastics with a focus on retaining their inherent chemical and energy value. We consider the advantages and disadvantages of this approach compared to recycling and converting back to monomers or syngas. As part of a multi-institutional collaboration, Argonne National Laboratory is designing new, cooperative catalysts to selectively, rather than randomly, cleave polyolefins. A key advantage of this approach is that relatively uniform macromolecules can be produced avoiding the formation of light alkanes through excessive hydrogenolysis.