Conversion of Waste Polyolefins into Liquid Fuels via a Two-Step Thermal Oxidation and Photocatalytic Process

Each year, vast quantities of fossil fuel reserves are processed to produce a range of polymers, with polyolefin such as polyethylene and polypropylene constituting the majority. Despite their widespread production, only a small fraction of these polymers is recycled, leading to massive plastic waste worldwide. Conventional depolymerization processes are highly endothermic, energy-intensive, and non-selective, rendering them economically unfeasible. Here, we report the conversion of various polyolefins into high-value liquid fuel products via a relatively simple microwave-assisted step combined with a visible-light mediated AuCoOx/GaN catalyst. The one-pot, two-step protocol demonstrates a sustainable approach to plastic upcycling with applications using mixed polymers and post-consumer single-use plastics without the need for pre-sorting, thereby contributing to a circular carbon economy and an alternative pathway to plastic valorisation.