Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026

Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Bridging Catalyst Design and Process-Level Analysis for Sustainable Polyethylene Recycling via Hydrogenolysis
Iris Nogueroles-Langa1,2, Yuzhen Ge3,2, Cecilia Salah4,2
1Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. inogueroles@ethz.ch.
Abstract:
Aligning catalyst development with process-level sustainability metrics is crucial for advancing the chemical recycling of plastics. We bridge both elements to study hydrogenolysis of high-density polyethylene and report Ru-Ni alloy nanoparticles supported on titania that yield up to 55% liquid alkane products (C6-C45) under optimized conditions. Operando spectroscopy reveals Ru-Ni alloy sites formed in situ, and temperature-programmed experiments suggest an enhanced preference for internal instead of terminal scission over the bimetallic catalysts. By integrating these experimental insights with life cycle and techno-economic analyses, we identify a minimum average-chain-length threshold of C11 for product distributions as a catalyst design guideline to reconcile environmental and economic objectives, illustrating the value of bridging catalyst design and process-level analyses.
Related Concept Videos
Reduction of Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Metals like palladium, platinum, and nickel are commonly used in their solid forms — fine powder on an inert surface. As these catalysts remain insoluble in the reaction mixture, they are referred to as heterogeneous catalysts.
The hydrogenation process takes place on the surface of...
Microbial Bioremediation of Plastics
Olefin Metathesis Polymerization: Overview
Ruthenium-based Grubbs catalyst is the most commonly used catalyst for olefin metathesis polymerization. Grubbs catalyst consists of a...
Reduction of Alkynes to cis-Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.
Free-Radical Chain Reaction and Polymerization of Alkenes
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
