Catalytic hydrogenolysis of plastic to liquid hydrocarbons over a nickel-based catalyst

Zhigang Zhao; Zheng Li; Xiangkun Zhang; Tan Li; Yuqing Li; Xingkun Chen; Kaige Wang

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120154

Catalytic hydrogenolysis of plastic to liquid hydrocarbons over a nickel-based catalyst

Environ Pollut. 2022 Nov 15:313:120154. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120154. Epub 2022 Sep 9.

Authors

Zhigang Zhao¹, Zheng Li², Xiangkun Zhang¹, Tan Li¹, Yuqing Li¹, Xingkun Chen², Kaige Wang³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, NO.38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
² Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, 1108 Gengwen Road, Hangzhou, 311231, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, NO.38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027, China. Electronic address: kaigewang@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 36096264
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120154

Abstract

The catalytic hydrogenolysis of a typical model compound of mulching film waste, polyethylene, was investigated as a potential way to improve economic efficiency of mulching film recycling. Nickel-based heterogeneous catalysts are proposed for polyethylene hydrogenolysis to produce liquid hydrocarbons. Among catalysts supported on various carriers, Ni/SiO₂ catalyst shows the highest activity which may due to the interactions between nickel and silica with the formation of nickel phyllosilicate. As high as 81.18% total gasoline and diesel range hydrocarbon was obtained from the polyethylene hydrogenolysis at relatively mild condition of 280 °C, and 3 MPa cold hydrogen pressure. The result is comparable to what have been reported in previous studies using noble metal catalysts. The gasoline and diesel range hydrocarbon are n-alkanes with a distribution at a range of C₄-C₂₂. The gas products are primarily CH₄ along with a small amount of C₂H₆ and C₃H₈. High yield of CH₄ as much as 9.68% was observed for the cleavage of molecule occurs along the alkane chain.

Keywords: Hydrogenolysis; Mulching film waste; Non-noble metal catalyst; Polyethylene.