Selective deconstruction of mixed plastics by a tailored organocatalyst
Md Arifuzzaman, Bobby G. Sumpter, Zoriana Demchuk, Changwoo Do, Mark A. Arnould, Md Anisur Rahman, Pengfei Cao, Ilja Popovs, Robert J. Davis, Sheng Dai, Tomonori Saito
Abstract
Plastic represents an essential material in our society; however, a major imbalance between their high production and end-of-life management is leading to unrecovered energy, economic hardship, and a high carbon footprint. The adoption of plastic recycling has been limited, mainly due to the difficulty of recycling mixed plastics. Here, we report a versatile organocatalyst for selective glycolysis of diverse consumer plastics and their mixed waste streams into valuable chemicals. The developed organocatalyst selectively deconstructs condensation polymers at a specific temperature, and additives or other polymers such as polyolefin or cellulose can be readily separated from the mixed plastics, providing a chemical recycling path for many existing mixed plastics today. The Life Cycle Assessment indicates that the production of various condensation polymers from the deconstructed monomers will result in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and energy input, opening a new paradigm of plastic circularity toward a net-zero carbon society.