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

塑料在我们社会的大规模生产是一个巨大的问题，尽管它改变了文明，允许建造高性能的设备和材料，但它也带来了大量的一次性使用物品。公众对塑料垃圾的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，因此需要采取替代办法，如化学品回收和再利用。在这个项目中，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，该催化剂具有坚固耐用的性能，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。其目的是利用废塑料原料，将其转化为润滑油基础油，用于一系列汽车机械，以提高效率。它利用废物，并将其转化为有用的化学产品，而无需开发自然资源。这使得在没有额外化石燃料的情况下生产润滑油基础油，因为有大量的塑料垃圾。离子液体和液体配位络合物作为Lewis酸催化剂用于基础油中的烯烃齐聚反应。基础油的牌号取决于齐聚物的分布。离子液体和液体配位络合物的这种方法允许反应混合物在温和的条件和常压下进行。这意味着，在工业规模上实施时，由于离子液体的蒸汽压较低，因此避免了使用剧毒和危险气体的问题。为了实现这一点，将进行各种离子液体的合成和液体配位，并将测量使用塑料原料时催化剂的效率和转化率。这一过程将进行优化，希望找到一种新的催化剂，可以用来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研究中心。这项研究将有益于社会和环境，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是一致的。

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.