Acidic Ionic Liquids as Catalysts for the Valorisation of Waste Plastic Resources

塑料的大量生产在我们的社会中是一个巨大的问题，它改变了文明，使高性能设备和材料的建设成为可能，它也带来了大量的一次性物品。公众对塑料垃圾影响的看法发生了重大变化，回收利用减少了对环境的影响。然而，许多回收领域是不切实际和不可行的，因此需要其他方法，如化学回收和重新利用。在本项目中，将研究废塑料原料的化学回收，并开发一种新的廉价的酸性离子液体催化剂，该催化剂坚固耐用，能够处理受污染的原料。这将克服利用废塑料作为化学资源的主要技术障碍。目的是利用废塑料原料，将其转化为润滑油基础油，用于范围汽车机械，以提高效率。这种方法在不开发自然资源的情况下利用废物并将其转化为有用的化学产品。这使得生产润滑油基础油不需要额外的化石燃料，因为有大量的塑料废物。离子液体和液体配位配合物作为路易斯酸催化剂用于基础油中烯烃的低聚反应。基础油的等级取决于低聚物的分布。离子液体和液体配位配合物的这种方法允许反应混合物在温和的条件和环境压力下发生。这意味着当在工业规模上实施时，可以避免使用剧毒和危险气体的问题，因为离子液体具有较低的蒸气压。为了实现这一目标，将进行各种离子液体的合成和液体配位，并在使用塑料原料时测量催化剂的效率和转化率。这一过程将被优化，希望找到一种新的催化剂，可用于将废塑料转化为增值的化学资源。该项目在女王大学离子液体实验室进行，该实验室是世界上最成熟的离子液体中心。这项研究将有利于社会和环境，因为废塑料可以被利用成一种具有多种用途的化学资源。这与EPSRC在开发新催化剂和使用合成配位化学方面的研究领域一致。

The mass production of plastic in our society is a huge problem while it has transformed civilisation and allowed the construction of high-performance devices and materials, it has also brought an abundance of single use items. Public perceptions toward the impact of plastic waste have changed significantly and recycling has reduced the environmental impact. However, many areas of recycling are impractical and unfeasible, so alternative approached such as chemical recycling and repurposing are required. In this project, chemical recycling of waste plastic feedstock will be investigated and developing a new, inexpensive acidic ionic liquid catalyst that are robust and capable to deal with contaminated feedstocks. This will overcome a major technical barrier to utilise wastes plastics as a chemical resource. The aim is to use waste plastic feedstock and transform it to lubricating base oil which is used in a range automotive machine to improve efficiency. This uses waste and transforms it into a useful chemical product without exploiting natural resources. This allows the production of lubricating base oil without additional fossil fuels as there is an abundance of plastic waste. Ionic liquids and liquid coordination complexes as Lewis acidic catalyst are used for oligomerisation of olefins that are presence in base oil. The grade of the base oil depends on the distribution of oligomers. This approach with ionic liquids and liquid coordination complexes allows the reaction mixture to take place at mild conditions and ambient pressure. This means when implemented at industrial scale the issues of using highly toxic and dangerous gases are avoided as ionic liquids have a low vapour pressure. To achieve this, the synthesis of various ionic liquids and liquid coordination will take place and the efficiency and conversion of the catalyst will be measured when using the plastic feedstock. This process will be optimised in the hope to find a new catalyst that can be used to convert the waste plastic into a value-added chemical resource. This project is taking place at Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories which is the most established centre for ionic liquids in the world. This research will benefit society and the environment as waste plastic can be utilised into a chemical resource which has many applications. This aligns with EPSRC research areas in developing new catalysts and using synthetic coordination chemistry.