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Updated: Jun 7, 2025

Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization
Published on: November 27, 2015
Progress on Photo-, Electro-, and Photoelectro-Catalytic Conversion of Recalcitrant Polyethylene, Polypropylene, and
Bhanupriya Boruah1, Juan A Lopez-Ruiz1
1Institute for Integrated Catalysis, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, WSU-PNNL Bioproducts Institute, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
Abstract:
Recalcitrant waste plastics such a polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene are difficult to recycle and are mostly disposed of in landfills and eventually leached into the environmental as micro- and nano-plastics. This review explores how photo-, electro-, and combined photoelectro-catalytic processes can assist in the degradation and upcycling of waste plastic into different chemicals and mitigate their release to the environment. In this work, we discuss how the different reaction mechanisms proceed, explore the current relevant literature, and highlight the developments needed to advance the field.
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