Renewable Aromatics from the Degradation of Polystyrene under Mild Conditions

A bimetallic FeCu/alumina catalyst was prepared and characterized. It showed excellent catalytic activity to quantitatively convert polystyrene (PS) into aromatics at low temperatures. A clear goldish yellow liquid was produced at 250 °C in a batch reactor without distillation. A liquid yield of 66% in an inert environment was achieved without the formation of coke and gas by-products. An exposure time of 90 min. and a catalyst loading of 200 mg were considered as an optimum condition to minimize the styrene re-polymerization. The gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis confirms that the primary products are styrene, ethylbenzene, cumene, toluene and α-methylstyrene.

Citation

Jabri NM, Lai Z, Hadjichristidis N, Huang K-W (2017) Renewable Aromatics from the Degradation of Polystyrene under Mild Conditions. Journal of Saudi Chemical Society. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jscs.2017.05.005.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the generous support from King Abdullah unvercity of science and technology (KAUST). N.M.J. acknowledges Saudi Aramco for a Chapter 14 Ph.D. scholarship.