Currently the following calls for MSc projects are open. If you are interested submit your request via the online form linked to here. First please consult our page information for students.
Supervisor: Roy Maas
Title: Radical Initiated Degradation to Enhance the Chemical Recyclability of Polyolefins
Description: Much of the plastic that pollutes our environment is made from polyolefins. Polyolefins could be recycled using thermocatalytic cracking, but the high viscosity of the polyolefins in the melt prevents proper polymer-catalyst interactions.1 To improve the polymer-catalyst interactions we investigate the pretreatment of polyolefins with peroxides to lower their melt viscosity via radical initiated degradation reactions.2 For this research we use an autoclave reactor for the pretreatment and rely on Thermogravimetric Analysis and spectroscopic techniques such as (in-situ) Infrared Spectroscopy and Optical microscopy for the characterization. Prior experience with spectroscopic techniques and some coding experience is recommended.
[1] S. Rejman et al., Royal. Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 10068.
[2] G. Moad et al., Polm. Deg. Stab., 2015, 117, 97.
Supervisor: Haoxiang Yan
Title: Optimizing Ruthenium-Based Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenolysis of Polyethylene (PE) into C6-C18 Hydrocarbons
Earliest start: 3rd period
Description: It is challenging to recycle PE due to its C-C backbone structure.[1, 2] This project aims to develop a ruthenium (Ru) based catalyst for the selective hydrogenolysis of PE into C6-C18 hydrocarbons. Ru/C catalyst has been tested on different types of PE under mild condition (200 °C, 20 bar H2). The results show that the PE were over-cracked into gaseous products instead of C6-C18hydrocarbons. To address this, Ru-based bimetallic catalysts with metals like Ti, Nb, W, and Re will be developed to improve the selectivity and suppress methane formation. By adding this metals, electronic properties, hydrogen spillover, and metal-support interactions will change and possibly improve selectivity towards C6-C18.[3] Catalyst performance will be tested on different PE using parr reactor.
[1] Tan, Y., et al., Catalytic chemical recycling and upcycling of polyolefin plastics. Giant, 2024. 19.
[2] Rorrer, J.E., G.T. Beckham, and Y. Román-Leshkov, Conversion of Polyolefin Waste to Liquid Alkanes with Ru-Based Catalysts under Mild Conditions. JACS Au, 2021. 1(1): p. 8-12.
[3] Yuan, Y., et al., Controlling Product Distribution of Polyethylene Hydrogenolysis Using Bimetallic RuM(3) (M = Fe, Co, Ni) Catalysts.Chem Bio Eng, 2024. 1(1): p. 67-75.