Chen Huan, Wan Kun, Zhang Yayun, Wang Yanqin
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, No. 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P.R. China.
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry and Research, Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, No. 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P.R. China.
ChemSusChem. 2021 Oct 5;14(19):4123-4136. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202100652. Epub 2021 Jun 1.
The linear approach to resource utilization has led to the accumulation of waste plastic in the environment for decades. Unfortunately, both traditional mechanical recycling and incineration have faced their bottlenecks that have always resulted in quality deterioration and value recovery failures. Recently, chemical recycling and upcycling processes, including the conversion of plastics into their virgin monomers, liquid fuels, or chemical feedstocks to produce value-added products, have been identified as the most promising strategy for recovering value from waste plastics. However, these methods are often cost prohibitive and relying on stringent conditions compared to current recycling methods. Accordingly, this Minireview summarizes recent trends and achievements in the chemical recycling and upcycling of waste plastics. We highlight three research topics: depolymerization of plastics into monomers; degradation of plastics into liquid fuels and waxes; and conversion of plastics into hydrogen, fine chemical feedstocks, and value-added functional materials. Indeed, chemical recycling and upcycling is a bright path to a circular and environmentally friendly plastic economy.
几十年来，资源利用的线性方式导致了废弃塑料在环境中的积累。不幸的是，传统的机械回收和焚烧都面临着瓶颈，总是导致质量下降和价值回收失败。最近，化学回收和升级循环工艺，包括将塑料转化为原始单体、液体燃料或化学原料以生产增值产品，已被视为从废塑料中回收价值最具前景的策略。然而，与当前的回收方法相比，这些方法往往成本高昂且依赖于严格的条件。因此，本综述总结了废塑料化学回收和升级循环的最新趋势与成果。我们重点介绍三个研究主题：塑料解聚为单体；塑料降解为液体燃料和蜡；以及将塑料转化为氢气、精细化学原料和增值功能材料。事实上，化学回收和升级循环是通往循环且环保的塑料经济的光明之路。
