{
  "abstract": "In recent years, plastics demand has exceeded 400 million tons annually worldwide. Due to their mechanical and chemical resistance and low cost, polyolefins, including polyethylene (PE), represent beyond 50% of global plastic production, contributing to the generation and accumulation of plastic waste. Traditional waste management technologies, including landfilling and incineration, result into greenhouse gases emissions and potential loss of valuable carbon sources, whereas mechanical recycling strategies generally imply materials degradation and loss of mechanical properties. Hence, chemical recycling technologies are emerging as low-impact strategies to valorize plastic waste. Assessing the potential impacts of chemical recycling alternatives is crucial to support developers in ensuring environmental competitiveness at higher scales. To this end, we propose a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of eight potential alternatives for ruthenium-based catalytic hydrogenolysis of PE into valuable lubricants and fuels. Assessed configurations adopt different driving forces to power the reaction: thermal energy, mechanical energy and thermally assisted mechanochemical configurations. Results outline how the highest energy consuming configurations entail the highest burdens, whereas thermally-assisted mechanochemical processes result into the lowest impacts. Overall, the assessment shows that energy-efficient thermos-mechanochemical technologies entail the lowest environmental profile, providing valuable information for developers towards selecting and optimizing the most competitive configurations.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Antonio Cosimo Pio Trimboli"
    },
    {
      "name": "Francesco Brenda"
    },
    {
      "name": "Francesco Arfelli"
    },
    {
      "name": "Riccardo Pellegrini"
    },
    {
      "name": "Elena Groppo"
    },
    {
      "name": "Lars Borchardt"
    },
    {
      "name": "Francesco Mauriello"
    },
    {
      "name": "Daniele Cespi",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6348-6111"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5axa7rj4kcvnp.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009374/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "5axa7rj4kcvnp",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009374/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2305|Environmental Impact and Sustainability"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214111323",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009374/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5axa7rj4kcvnp.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:21Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009374",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009374/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2305|Environmental Impact and Sustainability",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Life Cycle Assessment of Eight Ru-based catalytic hydrogenolysis configurations for the upcycling of waste polyolefins",
  "title_text": "Life Cycle Assessment of Eight Ru-based catalytic hydrogenolysis configurations for the upcycling of waste polyolefins",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:21Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5axa7rj4kcvnp",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}