Sustainable microwave-driven CO2 gasification of plastic waste for high-yield H2 and CO production

The efficiency and sustainability for the recycling of plastic wastes into hydrogen was investigated. An integrated microwave-driven valorization of plastic wastes and CO2 for H2 and CO production was proposed. Specifically, plastic wastes were decomposed into H2 and solid carbons, followed by carbon elimination via CO2 gasification under microwave irradiation. Through the high-throughput screen of catalysts as well as the optimization of key parameters, over 96% hydrogen was converted into H2 with a yield of 480 mmol∙g−1Hplastic while the carbon conversion and CO2 conversion reached up to 70% and 53%. The five-cycle successive test displayed extraordinarily high and stable catalytic activity due to the facile elimination of carbon deposition. The application for real-world plastic wastes further demonstrated the efficient microwave-driven CO2 gasification of plastic wastes into H2 and CO production as a feasible and sustainable technology toward the waste-to-energy circular economy.