Plastic Waste Conversion over a Refinery Waste Catalyst

Polypropylene (PP) makes up a large share of our plastic waste. We investigated the conversion of PP over the industrial Fluid Catalytic Cracking catalyst (FCC‐cat) used to produce gasoline from crude oil fractions. We studied transport limitations arising from the larger size of polymers compared t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 60; no. 29; pp. 16101 - 16108
Main Authors: Vollmer, Ina, Jenks, Michael J. F., Mayorga González, Rafael, Meirer, Florian, Weckhuysen, Bert M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 12.07.2021
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Edition:International ed. in English
Subjects:
Aromatic compounds
Aromatics
Catalysts
Catalytic converters
Catalytic cracking
Coke
coke formation
Coking
Conversion
Crude oil
Domains
Fluid catalytic cracking
Fluorescence
Fluorescence microscopy
Gasoline
Infrared spectroscopy
Oil
Plastic debris
plastic recycling
Polymers
Polypropylene
Refineries
Refinery wastes
Selectivity
Zeolites
Aromatics
polypropylene
plastic recycling
fluid catalytic cracking
coke formation
ISSN:1433-7851, 1521-3773, 1521-3773
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Polypropylene (PP) makes up a large share of our plastic waste. We investigated the conversion of PP over the industrial Fluid Catalytic Cracking catalyst (FCC‐cat) used to produce gasoline from crude oil fractions. We studied transport limitations arising from the larger size of polymers compared to the crude oil‐based feedstock by testing the components of this catalyst separately. Infrared spectroscopy and confocal fluorescence microscopy revealed the role of the FCC matrix in aromatization, and the zeolite Y domains in coking. An equilibrium catalyst (ECAT), discarded during FCC operation as waste, produced the same aromatics content as a fresh FCC‐cat, while coking decreased significantly, likely due to the reduced accessibility and activity of the zeolite domains and an enhanced cracking activity of the matrix due to metal deposits present in ECAT. This mechanistic understanding provides handles for further improving the catalyst composition towards higher aromatics selectivity. On the path to finding better catalysts for polyolefin plastic waste conversion to aromatics, we have found that a waste refinery catalyst performed better than the fresh catalyst with decreased accumulation of deactivating carbonaceous deposits. Fluorescence microscopy and vibrational spectroscopy has been used to elucidate the interaction of the polymer with the catalyst and to map the location and type of bulky aromatic species.
Bibliography:These authors contributed equally to this work.
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ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.202104110