Scaling up chemical recycling: High-yield polyolefin pyrolysis to liquid hydrocarbons using iron single atom catalysts.

An Fe single-atom catalytic pyrolysis of polyolefins achieves 97% conversion with a 94% yield of C6–C35 liquid hydrocarbons using temperature-gradient control.

• Why it matters: Industrial chemical recycling is limited by high energy requirements and low selectivity toward useful liquid products.
• What they did: The authors used a ZIF-derived, N-doped porous carbon-supported iron single-atom catalyst (Fe1@NC) and applied temperature gradient control, then scaled the process to kilogram quantities.
• The result: Mechanistic studies indicate the rate-determining step is an acid–base-promoted dehydrogenation of the polymer backbone, with iron–carbon electronic synergy stabilizing carbocation intermediates for rapid decomposition into olefins and alkanes.

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