Non-thermal plasma-assisted rapid hydrogenolysis of polystyrene to high yield ethylene

Abstract

The evergrowing plastic production and the caused concerns of plastic waste accumulation have stimulated the need for waste plastic chemical recycling/valorization. Current methods suffer from harsh reaction conditions and long reaction time. Herein we demonstrate a non-thermal plasma-assisted method for rapid hydrogenolysis of polystyrene (PS) at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure, generating high yield (>40 wt%) of C1–C3 hydrocarbons and ethylene being the dominant gas product (Selectivity of ethylene, SC2H4 > 70%) within ~10 min. The fast reaction kinetics is attributed to highly active hydrogen plasma, which can effectively break bonds in polymer and initiate hydrogenolysis under mild condition. Efficient hydrogenolysis of post-consumer PS materials using this method is also demonstrated, suggesting a promising approach for fast retrieval of small molecular hydrocarbon modules from plastic materials as well as a good capability to process waste plastics in complicated conditions.