From trash to treasure: Chemical recycling and upcycling of commodity plastic waste to fuels, high-valued chemicals and advanced materials

Abstract

Of all the existing materials, plastics are no doubt among the most versatile ones. However, the extreme increases in plastic production as well as the difficulty of the material for degradation have led to a huge number of plastic wastes. Their recycling rate after disposal is less than 10%, resulting in a series of serious environmental and ecological problems as well as a significant waste of resources. Current recycling methods generally suffer from large energy consumption, the low utilization rate of recycled products with low added value, and produce other waste during the process. Here, we summarized recently-developed chemical recycling ways on commodity plastics, especially new catalytic paths in production of fuels, high-valued chemicals and advanced materials from a single virgin or a mixture of plastic waste, which have emerged as promising ways to valorize waste plastics more economically and environmentally friendly. The new catalyst design criteria as well as innovative catalytic paths and technologies for plastic upcycling are highlighted. Beyond energy recovery by incineration, these approaches demonstrate how waste plastics can be a viable feedstock for energy use with the generation of clean H2, high-quality liquid fuels and materials for energy storage, and help inspiring more catalytic process on plastic upcycling to overcome the economical hurdle and building a circular plastic economy.