This catalyst can efficiently upcycle plastic waste

Anybody suffering from plastophobia and there are many out there listen up again! Alert: If you suffer from plastophobia please seek immediate medical help! (Caveat: I am not a doctor)

Human ingenuity can handle plastic pollution!

"A group of scientists ... has figured out a way to turn single-use plastic packets, motor oils, and various other petroleum products into environment-friendly, good-quality products. In their latest study, the scientists claim that by using an aluminum reactant and zirconium-oxide-based catalyst, they can change the chemical structure of polyolefin plastics which are basically hydrocarbons comprising long and unbreakable chains of carbon atoms. ...
there is a process called hydrogenolysis using which polyolefins can be upcycled if not fully degraded. This method involves the use of a catalyst to cut through the carbon-carbon bonds and introduce hydrogen atoms. The study authors suggest that until now scientists have been using rare and expensive metals like platinum as a catalyst for this process, making it both an expensive and non-scalable approach. ...
Since zirconia is less reactive, they designed a sandwich-like catalyst system that incorporated zirconium alkoxide nanoparticles as catalysts placed between two mesoporous silica-alumina plates as reactants. ..."

From the abstract:

"Carbon–carbon bond cleavage reactions, adapted to deconstruct aliphatic hydrocarbon polymers and recover the intrinsic energy and carbon value in plastic waste, have typically been catalysed by metal nanoparticles or air-sensitive organometallics. Metal oxides that serve as supports for these catalysts are typically considered to be inert. Here we show that Earth-abundant, non-reducible zirconia catalyses the hydrogenolysis of polyolefins with activity rivalling that of precious metal nanoparticles. To harness this unusual reactivity, our catalytic architecture localizes ultrasmall amorphous zirconia nanoparticles between two fused platelets of mesoporous silica. Macromolecules translocate from bulk through radial mesopores to the highly active zirconia particles, where the chains undergo selective hydrogenolytic cleavage into a narrow, C18-centred distribution. Calculations indicated that C–H bond heterolysis across a Zr–O bond of a Zr(O)2 adatom model for unsaturated surface sites gives a zirconium hydrocarbyl, which cleaves a C–C bond via β-alkyl elimination."

This catalyst can upcycle plastic waste in ways that almost seem too good A zirconium-based catalyst promises to break down polymers. It's probably the best plastic-degradation solution we've come across.

Ultrasmall amorphous zirconia nanoparticles catalyse polyolefin hydrogenolysis (open access)

Fig. 1: Construction of L-ZrO2@mSiO2.