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Schwab S, Baur M, Nelson TF, Mecking S. Synthesis and Deconstruction of Polyethylene-type Materials. Chem Rev 2024; 124:2327-2351. [PMID: 38408312 PMCID: PMC10941192 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
Polyethylene deconstruction to reusable smaller molecules is hindered by the chemical inertness of its hydrocarbon chains. Pyrolysis and related approaches commonly require high temperatures, are energy-intensive, and yield mixtures of multiple classes of compounds. Selective cleavage reactions under mild conditions (
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon
T. Schwab
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science,
Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Maximilian Baur
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science,
Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Taylor F. Nelson
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science,
Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Stefan Mecking
- Chair of Chemical Materials Science,
Department of Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
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2
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Jang YJ, Nguyen S, Hillmyer MA. Chemically Recyclable Linear and Branched Polyethylenes Synthesized from Stoichiometrically Self-Balanced Telechelic Polyethylenes. J Am Chem Soc 2024; 146:4771-4782. [PMID: 38323928 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c12660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is a widely used commercial plastic due to its excellent mechanical properties, chemical resistance, and water vapor barrier properties. However, less than 10% of HDPE is mechanically recycled, and the chemical recycling of HDPE is challenging due to the inherent strength of the carbon-carbon backbone bonds. Here, we report chemically recyclable linear and branched HDPE with sparse backbone ester groups synthesized from the transesterification of telechelic polyethylene macromonomers. Stoichiometrically self-balanced telechelic polyethylenes underwent transesterification polymerization to produce the PE-ester samples with high number-average molar masses of up to 111 kg/mol. Moreover, the transesterification polymerization of the telechelic polyethylenes and the multifunctional diethyl 5-(hydroxymethyl)isophthalate generated branched PE-esters. Thermal and mechanical properties of the PE-esters were comparable to those of commercial HDPE and tunable through control of the ester content in the backbone. In addition, branched PE-esters showed higher levels of melt strain hardening compared with linear versions. The PE-ester was depolymerized into telechelic macromonomers through straightforward methanolysis, and the resulting macromonomers could be effectively repolymerized to generate a high molar mass recycled PE-ester sample. This is a new and promising method for synthesizing and recycling high-molar-mass linear and branched PE-esters, which are competitive with HDPE and have easily tailorable properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoon-Jung Jang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Sam Nguyen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Marc A Hillmyer
- Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
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3
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Zhao Y, Rettner EM, Harry KL, Hu Z, Miscall J, Rorrer NA, Miyake GM. Chemically recyclable polyolefin-like multiblock polymers. Science 2023; 382:310-314. [PMID: 37856598 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh3353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Polyolefins are the most important and largest volume plastics produced. Unfortunately, the enormous use of plastics and lack of effective disposal or recycling options have created a plastic waste catastrophe. In this work, we report an approach to create chemically recyclable polyolefin-like materials with diverse mechanical properties through the construction of multiblock polymers from hard and soft oligomeric building blocks synthesized with ruthenium-mediated ring-opening metathesis polymerization of cyclooctenes. The multiblock polymers exhibit broad mechanical properties, spanning elastomers to plastomers to thermoplastics, while integrating a high melting transition temperature (Tm) and low glass transition temperature (Tg), making them suitable for use across diverse applications (Tm as high as 128°C and Tg as low as -60°C). After use, the different plastics can be combined and efficiently deconstructed back to the fundamental hard and soft building blocks for separation and repolymerization to realize a closed-loop recycling process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yucheng Zhao
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Emma M Rettner
- School of Advanced Materials Discovery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Katherine L Harry
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Zhitao Hu
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Joel Miscall
- Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
- BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO 80401, USA
| | - Nicholas A Rorrer
- Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
- BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO 80401, USA
| | - Garret M Miyake
- Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
- School of Advanced Materials Discovery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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4
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Burkey AA, Kotula AP, Snyder CR, Orski SV, Beers KL. Selective deuteration along a polyethylene chain: Differentiating conformation segment by segment. Macromolecules 2023; 56:10.1021/acs.macromol.3c01560. [PMID: 38841360 PMCID: PMC11151874 DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c01560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
To improve the circularity and performance of polyolefin materials, recent innovations have enabled the synthesis of polyolefins with new structural features such as cleavable breakpoints, functional chain ends, and unique comonomers. As new polyolefin structures become synthetically accessible, fundamental understanding of the effects of structural features on polymer (re)processing and mechanical performance is increasingly important. While bulk material properties are readily measured through conventional thermal or mechanical techniques, selective measurement of local material properties near structural defects is a major characterization challenge. Here, we synthesized a series of polyethylenes with selectively deuterated segments using a polyhomologation approach and employed vibrational spectroscopy to evaluate crystallization and melting of chain segments near features of interest (e.g., end groups, chain centers, and mid-chain structural defects). Chain-end functionality and defects were observed to strongly influence crystallinity of adjacent deuterated chain segments. Additionally, chain-end crystallinity was observed to have different molar mass dependence than mid-chain crystallinity. The synthesis and spectroscopy techniques demonstrated here can be applied to range of previously inaccessible deuterated polyethylene structures to provide direct insight into local crystallization behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron A Burkey
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Anthony P Kotula
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Chad R Snyder
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Sara V Orski
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
| | - Kathryn L Beers
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, United States
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5
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Arroyave A, Cui S, Lopez JC, Kocen AL, LaPointe AM, Delferro M, Coates GW. Catalytic Chemical Recycling of Post-Consumer Polyethylene. J Am Chem Soc 2022; 144:23280-23285. [PMID: 36524740 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c11949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Among commercial plastics, polyolefins are the most widely produced worldwide but have limited recyclability. Here, we report a chemical recycling route for the conversion of post-consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE) into telechelic macromonomers suitable for circular reprocessing. Unsaturation was introduced into HDPE by catalytic dehydrogenation using an Ir-POCOP catalyst without an alkene acceptor. Cross-metathesis with 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate followed by hydrogenation transformed the partially unsaturated HDPE into telechelic macromonomers. The direct repolymerization of the macromonomers gave a brittle material due to the low overall weight-average molecular weight. Aminolysis of telechelic macromonomers with a small amount of diethanolamine increased the overall functionality. The resulting macromonomers were repolymerized through transesterification to generate a polymer with comparable mechanical properties to the starting post-consumer HDPE waste. Depolymerization of the repolymerized material catalyzed by an organic base regenerated the telechelic macromonomers, thereby allowing waste polyethylene materials to enter a chemical recycling pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra Arroyave
- Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439-4801, United States
| | - Shilin Cui
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-1301, United States
| | - Jaqueline C Lopez
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-1301, United States
| | - Andrew L Kocen
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-1301, United States
| | - Anne M LaPointe
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-1301, United States
| | - Massimiliano Delferro
- Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439-4801, United States.,Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637-1433, United States
| | - Geoffrey W Coates
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-1301, United States
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6
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Influence of carboxytelechelic oligomer molecular weight on the properties of chain extended polyethylenes. POLYMER 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2022.125319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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