Recycling Valuable Alkylbenzenes from Polystyrene through Methanol-Assisted Depolymerization
Lin Zeng
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
These authors contributed equally: Lin Zeng, Tao Yan, Junjie Du.
Search for more papers by this authorTao Yan
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
These authors contributed equally: Lin Zeng, Tao Yan, Junjie Du.
Search for more papers by this authorJunjie Du
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
These authors contributed equally: Lin Zeng, Tao Yan, Junjie Du.
Search for more papers by this authorDr. Chengyuan Liu
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorBin Dong
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorBing Qian
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorZhou Xiao
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorGuangning Su
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorTao Zhou
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorZijun Peng
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorProf. Zhandong Wang
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Prof. Hongliang Li
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Prof. Jie Zeng
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, Anhui 243002 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorLin Zeng
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
These authors contributed equally: Lin Zeng, Tao Yan, Junjie Du.
Search for more papers by this authorTao Yan
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
These authors contributed equally: Lin Zeng, Tao Yan, Junjie Du.
Search for more papers by this authorJunjie Du
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
These authors contributed equally: Lin Zeng, Tao Yan, Junjie Du.
Search for more papers by this authorDr. Chengyuan Liu
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorBin Dong
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorBing Qian
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorZhou Xiao
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorGuangning Su
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorTao Zhou
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorZijun Peng
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorProf. Zhandong Wang
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Prof. Hongliang Li
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Prof. Jie Zeng
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 P. R. China
School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, Anhui 243002 P. R. China
Search for more papers by this authorGraphical Abstract
A methanol-assisted depolymerization of PS (PS-MAD) process was developed for effectively converting PS into value-added alkylbenzenes. Methanol is regarded as a hydrogen carrier decomposed in situ to provide moderate pressure of hydrogen which prevents benzene rings hydrogenation and promotes the depolymerization of PS. PS-MAD achieved a high yield of liquid products which accounted for 93.2 wt % of virgin PS over Ru/SiO2 at 280 °C for 6 h.
Abstract
The vast bulk of polystyrene (PS), a major type of plastic polymers, ends up in landfills, which takes up to thousands of years to decompose in nature. Chemical recycling promises to enable lower-energy pathways and minimal environmental impacts compared with traditional incineration and mechanical recycling. Herein, we demonstrated that methanol as a hydrogen supplier assisted the depolymerization of PS (denoted as PS-MAD) into alkylbenzenes over a heterogeneous catalyst composed of Ru nanoparticles on SiO2. PS-MAD achieved a high yield of liquid products which accounted for 93.2 wt % of virgin PS at 280 °C for 6 h with the production rate of 118.1 mmolcarbon gcatal.−1 h−1. The major components were valuable alkylbenzenes (monocyclic aromatics and diphenyl alkanes), the sum of which occupied 84.3 wt % of liquid products. According to mechanistic studies, methanol decomposition dominates the hydrogen supply during PS-MAD, thereby restraining PS aromatization which generates by-products of fused polycyclic arenes and polyphenylenes.
Conflict of interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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