New catalyst process could reduce plastic waste

Polyolefinic plastics - the most common type found in everything from food packaging to toys, electronics and liquid fuels - has physical properties that make it difficult for a catalyst to interact directly with the molecular elements. 

Current efforts to recycle these plastics require temperatures of at least 573 degrees Kelvin, and up to 1,173 degrees Kelvin. The researchers aimed to find a reaction that required a lower temperature to activate, looking to heterogenous catalysts.

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According to the team, they combined ruthenium, a metal in the platinum family, with cerium dioxide to produce a catalyst causing the plastics to react at 473 degrees Kelvin. While still high for human sensibilities, it requires significantly less energy input compared to other catalyst systems, researchers explained.

“Our approach acted as an effective and reusable heterogeneous catalyst, showing much higher activity than other metal-supported catalysts, working even under mild reaction conditions,” said paper co-authors Masazumi Tamura and Keiichi Tomishige.