Converting waste PET plastics into automobile fuels and antifreeze components
Zhiwen Gao, Bing Ma, Shuang Chen, Jingqing Tian, Chen Zhao
Abstract
Abstract With the aim to solve the serious problem of white plastic pollution, we report herein a low-cost process to quantitatively convert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into p -xylene (PX) and ethylene glycol (EG) over modified Cu/SiO 2 catalyst using methanol as both solvent and hydrogen donor. Kinetic and in-situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies demonstrate that the degradation of PET into PX involves tandem PET methanolysis and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) selective hydro-deoxygenation (HDO) steps with the in-situ produced H 2 from methanol decomposition at 210 °C. The overall high activities are attributed to the high Cu + /Cu 0 ratio derived from the dense and granular copper silicate precursor, as formed by the induction of proper NaCl addition during the hydrothermal synthesis. This hydrogen-free one-pot approach allows to directly produce gasoline fuels and antifreeze components from waste poly-ester plastic, providing a feasible solution to the plastic problem in islands.