Enhanced Production of Liquid Alkanes from Waste Polyethylene via the Electronic Effect‐Favored C<sub>secondary</sub>−C<sub>secondary</sub> Bond Cleavage
Shenglu Lu, Yaxuan Jing, Shengchao Jia, Mohsen Shakouri, Yongfeng Hu, Xiaohui Liu, Yong Guo, Yanqin Wang
Abstract
Abstract Catalytic hydrogenolysis of polyethylene to liquid alkanes has drawn particular attention. However, it remains not very clear about the factors influencing the positions (internal C secondary −C secondary and terminal C secondary −C primary bonds) of C−C bond cleavage. Here, we clarify the influence of Ru chemical state on the positions of C−C bond cleavage by designing two Ru/CeO 2 catalysts with different Ru chemical states tuned by the metal‐support interaction. It is found that the positively charged Ru species favor the hydrogenolysis of the internal C secondary −C secondary bond, inhibiting methane production, because these Ru δ+ species enable the selective bonding with the internal C secondary containing higher electron density through the electron‐donating effect of adjacent alkyl species instead of the terminal C primary . Furthermore, a simple Ru/CeO 2 −I catalyst with plenty of Ru δ+ species was designed and was efficient for the hydrogenolysis of real waste polyethylene plastics. This work would guide catalyst design to enhance the selective production of liquid alkanes.