Enabling resource circularity through thermo-catalytic and solvent-based conversion of waste plastics

Catalytic hydroconversion processes for upcycling plastic waste to fuels and chemicals

“…8,9 There have been several techniques explored in this regard including gasification, pyrolysis, pyrolysis/hydrotreatment, hydrothermal liquefaction, solvolysis, and catalytic hydroconversion. 10–17 Among them, catalytic hydroconversion can enable the conversion of plastic wastes to diverse products with high selectivity under mild reaction conditions, making it one of the most promising approaches towards a circular economy. 18–20…”

“…In recent years, over twenty excellent reviews have been published in this field. 3–24 These review papers are broad in scope and aim to provide a brief description of each conversion strategy, rather than provide a comprehensive and systematic understanding of each method, including the hydroconversion process. Most of these published reviews focused on different strategic approaches for conversion of plastics including thermal pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, hydroconversion, oxidation, photocatalysis, eletrocatalysis, solvolysis, biological catalysis, microwave- and plasma-assisted catalysis.…”

“…Most of these published reviews focused on different strategic approaches for conversion of plastics including thermal pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, hydroconversion, oxidation, photocatalysis, eletrocatalysis, solvolysis, biological catalysis, microwave- and plasma-assisted catalysis. 3–24 In comparison, this review is a more focused review of only hydroconversion over a broad overview of various technologies and it will be beneficial to the catalysis and sustainability field. For example, Borkar et al provided an excellent review on catalytic conversion of plastics and summarized several approaches, including hydroconversion, solvent treatments, and cross alkane metathesis.…”

“…8,9 There have been several techniques explored in this regard including gasification, pyrolysis, pyrolysis/hydrotreatment, hydrothermal liquefaction, solvolysis, and catalytic hydroconversion. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Among them, catalytic hydroconversion can enable the conversion of plastic wastes to diverse products with high selectivity under mild reaction conditions, making it one of the most promising approaches towards a circular economy. [18][19][20] Although there are thousands of different plastics, approximately seven major categories of plastics are produced and consumed in large quantities: high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and other plastics (e.g.…”

“…For example, Borkar et al provided an excellent review on catalytic conversion of plastics and summarized several approaches, including hydroconversion, solvent treatments, and cross alkane metathesis. 15 They summarized the hydroconversion of polyolefins by platinum, zirconium and ruthenium catalysts, but ignored the hydroconversion methods and non-noble metal catalysts used in polyolefin conversion as well as the impact of plastic structure and additives on the catalytic performance. However, in our review paper, we have emphasized different hydroconversion processes including hydrocracking, hydrogenolysis and hydroconversion with in situ generated hydrogen and related catalysts for the conversion of polyolefins.…”