Depolymerization of polyesters by a binuclear catalyst for plastic recycling

Shengbo Zhang, Qikun Hu, Yu-Xiao Zhang, Haoyue Guo, Yanfen Wu, Mingze Sun, Xingsong Zhu, Jiangang Zhang, Shuyan Gong, Ping Liu and Zhiqiang Niu ()
Additional contact information
Shengbo Zhang: Tsinghua University
Qikun Hu: Tsinghua University
Yu-Xiao Zhang: Tsinghua University
Haoyue Guo: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Yanfen Wu: Tsinghua University
Mingze Sun: Tsinghua University
Xingsong Zhu: Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fibre Co., Ltd
Jiangang Zhang: Tsinghua University
Shuyan Gong: Tsinghua University
Ping Liu: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Zhiqiang Niu: Tsinghua University

Nature Sustainability, 2023, vol. 6, issue 8, 965-973

Abstract: Abstract Plastics play an essential role in modern society; however, the relentless growth of their production is threatening both human health and ecosystems. As a result, there are intensive efforts in developing recycling technologies to repurpose waste plastics into the building blocks for valuable materials. Here we show a binuclear complex that can catalyse the degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)—the most widely used polyester globally—and a wide spectrum of other plastics including polylactic acid, polybutylene adipate terephthalate, polycaprolactone, polyurethane and Nylon 66. Inspired by hydrolases, the group of enzymes that catalyse bond cleavages with water, the present catalyst design features biomimetic Zn‒Zn sites that activate the plastic, stabilize the key intermediate and enable intramolecular hydrolysis. This synthetic catalyst delivers an activity of 36 mgPET d−1 gcatal−1 toward PET depolymerization at pH 8 and 40 °C and an activity of 577 gPET d−1 gcatal−1 at pH 13 and 90 °C for scalable PET recycling. We further demonstrate a closed-loop production of bottle-grade PET. This work presents a practical and viable solution for the sustainable management of plastics waste.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01118-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natsus:v:6:y:2023:i:8:d:10.1038_s41893-023-01118-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/natsustain/

DOI: 10.1038/s41893-023-01118-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Sustainability is currently edited by Monica Contestabile

More articles in Nature Sustainability from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().