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Researchers in China have developed a new chemical recycling process that converts difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into aviation fuel with an 82.3 percent liquid yield. The approach uses inexpensive metal catalysts and could offer a cleaner, more economical way to transform discarded plastics into sustainable fuel, although the technology remains in the experimental stage.
The study was carried out by researchers from Fudan University and the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute. Their process targets polyolefins, the most common family of plastics used in products such as grocery bags, food packaging, and shampoo bottles. By using a specially designed cobalt-nickel catalyst, the team was able to selectively break the long polymer chains into hydrocarbons suitable for jet fuel production under relatively mild reaction conditions.
Polyolefins account for a large share of the world’s plastic waste, with global plastic production now exceeding 460 million metric tons each year. Because plastics are derived from petroleum, they contain the same carbon and hydrogen building blocks found in conventional fuels. The challenge has been breaking these long molecular chains into the right-sized hydrocarbons without producing excessive amounts of unwanted gases.
Previous chemical recycling methods often broke the polymer chains at their ends, producing methane and other light gases instead of liquid fuels. The new catalyst modifies the electronic properties of nickel using cobalt, allowing hydrogen to selectively break internal carbon-carbon bonds. This produces hydrocarbons containing eight to sixteen carbon atoms, the range required for aviation-grade fuel.
Laboratory tests achieved an 82.3 percent liquid yield and approximately 79 percent selectivity for C8-C16 alkanes, making the process significantly more efficient than many previous approaches. Unlike earlier methods that relied on costly precious metals such as platinum or ruthenium, the new catalyst uses abundant and inexpensive materials, potentially lowering production costs.
The researchers also found that the process could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent compared with conventional fossil-derived jet fuel if powered by renewable energy.
Despite the promising results, the technology is still far from commercial deployment. Scaling the process for industrial production and handling contaminated real-world plastic waste remain major engineering challenges. Researchers say additional work is needed before plastic-derived aviation fuel can be produced on a commercial scale.
