Design of Zr- and Al-Doped *BEA-Type Zeolite to Boost LDPE Cracking

Nowadays, the increase in plastic waste is causing serious environmental problems. Catalytic cracking has been considered a promising candidate to solve these problems. Catalytic cracking has emerged as an attractive process that can produce valuable products from plastic wastes. Solid acid catalysts such as zeolites decompose the plastic waste at a lower temperature. The lower decomposition temperature may be desirable for practical use. Herein, we synthesized both Zr- and Al-incorporated Beta zeolite using amorphous ZrO₂-SiO₂. The optimized Zr content in the dry gel allowed the enhancement of Lewis acidity without a significant loss of Brønsted acidity. The enhancement of Lewis acidity was mainly due to Zr species incorporated into the zeolite framework. Thanks to the enhanced Lewis acidity without any significant loss of Brønsted acidity, higher polymer decomposition efficiency was achieved than a conventional Beta zeolite.