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Polymers

Electrifying the upcycling of plastics

Nature Synthesis volume 1, pages 919–920 (2022)Cite this article

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Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is challenging to recycle owing to the formation of hydrochloric acid during depolymerization at high temperatures. Now, a method for upcycling PVC that relies on its intrinsic reactivity in a low-intensity electrochemical process is reported, which can be exploited to chlorinate arenes.

Chemical recycling of polyolefins is increasingly practiced at industrial scale, allowing the apportionment of reusable hydrocarbons in open-loop circular manufacturing. Typically, the polyolefin backbone is broken down into smaller fragments at high temperatures, with the light and heavy fractions subsequently directed to conventional hydrocarbon processes associated with petrochemical refining. Chlorinated polyolefins are problematic in pyrolysis owing to the formation of hydrochloric acid at low temperatures, relative to those needed for C–C bond cleavage. This acidic by-product is highly corrosive and degrades the reactor. Because of this inherent reactivity, polyolefin waste must be carefully sorted to minimize contamination by polyvinyl chloride (PVC). When PVC is a bulk material undergoing pyrolysis, a host of toxic compounds are generated, including dioxins. It follows that PVC is generally not considered a suitable candidate for advanced chemical recycling at scale by pyrolytic methods1.

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Fig. 1: Coupled electrochemical reactions producing high-value chlorinated arenes from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste.

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  1. Twitter: @GroupHelms

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  1. The Molecular Foundry & Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Brett A. Helms

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  1. Brett A. Helms
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Correspondence to Brett A. Helms.

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B.A.H. has a financial interest in Cyklos Materials and Sepion Technologies.

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Helms, B.A. Electrifying the upcycling of plastics. Nat. Synth 1, 919–920 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00186-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00186-2

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