原材料
聚乙烯
聚合物
解聚
材料科学
聚酯纤维
聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯
化学工程
复合材料
高分子科学
有机化学
废物管理
高密度聚乙烯
高分子化学
化学
工程类
作者
Manuel Häußler,Marcel Eck,Dario Rothauer,Stefan Mecking
出处
期刊:Nature
[Springer Nature]
日期:2021-02-17
卷期号:590 (7846): 423-427
被引量:330
标识
DOI:10.1038/s41586-020-03149-9
摘要
Plastics are key components of almost any technology today. Although their production consumes substantial feedstock resources, plastics are largely disposed of after their service life. In terms of a circular economy1–8, reuse of post-consumer sorted polymers (‘mechanical recycling’) is hampered by deterioration of materials performance9,10. Chemical recycling1,11 via depolymerization to monomer offers an alternative that retains high-performance properties. The linear hydrocarbon chains of polyethylene12 enable crystalline packing and provide excellent materials properties13. Their inert nature hinders chemical recycling, however, necessitating temperatures above 600 degrees Celsius and recovering ethylene with a yield of less than 10 per cent3,11,14. Here we show that renewable polycarbonates and polyesters with a low density of in-chain functional groups as break points in a polyethylene chain can be recycled chemically by solvolysis with a recovery rate of more than 96 per cent. At the same time, the break points do not disturb the crystalline polyethylene structure, and the desirable materials properties (like those of high-density polyethylene) are fully retained upon recycling. Processing can be performed by common injection moulding and the materials are well-suited for additive manufacturing, such as 3D printing. Selective removal from model polymer waste streams is possible. In our approach, the initial polymers result from polycondensation of long-chain building blocks, derived by state-of-the-art catalytic schemes from common plant oil feedstocks, or microalgae oils15. This allows closed-loop recycling of polyethylene-like materials. Polycarbonates and polyesters with materials properties like those of high-density polyethylene can be recycled chemically by depolymerization to their constituent monomers, re-polymerization yielding material with uncompromised processing and materials properties.
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