Geography-guided industrial-level upcycling of polyethylene terephthalate plastics through alkaline seawater-based processes.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40435248.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adu8381 and PMC identifier 12118594.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The escalating plastic crisis can be mitigated by upgrading waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Leveraging the geographical advantages of offshores with established chlor-alkali industries, abundant renewable energy, and extensive seawater, we here present a technically and economically viable strategy of harnessing natural seawater as a medium to transform PET plastics into high-value chemicals. We report a nickel-molybdenum catalyst incorporating frustrated Lewis pairs for the efficient breakage of C─C bond and the oxidation of ethylene glycol, which sustains a current of 6 amperes at 1.74 volts over 350 hours, with a projected revenue of approximately $304 United States dollar (USD) per ton of processed PET plastics. In a customized electrolyzer, we successfully convert 301.0 grams of waste PET into 227.1 grams of p-phthalic acid (95.5% yield), 1486.2 grams of potassium diformate (67.2% yield), and approximately 214.9 liters of green hydrogen. This study paves the way for scalable PET upcycling, contributing to a circular economy and mitigating the plastic pollution crisis.