Chemical recycling of plastic wastes via homogeneous catalysis: A review

Improper disposal of plastic wastes causes serious negative impacts on the ecosystem. These plastic wastes are considered to be a rich carbon resource, and the use of homogeneous catalytic chemical recycling methods has enabled the high-value recovery of plastic wastes under mild conditions to obtain liquid fuels (alkane, cycloalkane and aromatic hydrocarbon etc.), high-value chemicals (terephthalic acid, bisphenol A and diols), and plastic monomers (bis(hydroxyalkyl) terephthalate). This review summarizes recent advances in homogeneous catalysis of plastic polymers for the preparation of high-value chemicals. The bond breaking mechanism of plastics using different homogeneous catalysts and the relationship between catalyst active sites and catalytic performance are systematically discussed in each section. Finally, we evaluate the current homogeneous catalytic chemical recycling routes for plastic wastes. Chemical recycling through homogeneous catalysis is a bright way to realize the circular economy of plastic wastes.