{
  "abstract": "Catalytic hydroconversion of polyolefin waste typically relies on the addition of high-pressure hydrogen, which greatly impacts both the process implementation and economic viability. Here we report polypropylene (PP) hydrogenolysis coupled to methylcyclohexane (MCH) dehydrogenation providing an external-H₂-free tandem route to naphtha-range liquid hydrocarbons. The best performing catalysis system was 1 nm sized PtRu nanoparticles (1 wt% Pt/1 wt% Ru) on γ-Al₂O₃. At 300 °C, this catalyst could facilitate over 96 wt% PP conversion with more than 88 wt% as naphtha-range liquid hydrocarbon products. This performance was retained over 6 recycles. Spectroscopic characterisation indicates the formation of electronically coupled PtRu domains, which promote MCH dehydrogenation and moderate C-C bond cleavage. Solvent screening shows that hydrocarbon liquids with different structures lead to pronounced differences in PP conversion and product selectivity. Molecular dynamics simulations of PP in representative solvents provide a qualitative picture of how solvent-dependent chain mobility and chain extension may influence polymer accessibility to catalytic sites. Techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment suggest that, under favorable feedstock assumptions, renewable MCH could lower both carbon intensity and production cost relative to a direct H₂-based route. These results identify MCH-assisted PtRu nanoparticle catalysis as a viable tandem process for PP upcycling and highlight the importance of coupling hydrogen-donor chemistry with liquid-phase transport effects in plastic waste valorisation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford 12 Mansfield Road Oxford OX1 3TA UK dermot.ohare@chem.ox.ac.uk.",
    "Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PJ UK.",
    "Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3QR UK."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 14,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Haokun Wang",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-2075-6775"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zhiyuan Zong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Mingyu Luo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Frederick Z T Yang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jiaying Pan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Zeyu Wu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Rui Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Yuhong Luo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jiasi Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Yiyang Li",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9278-7386"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Roland C Turnell-Ritson",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3702-9467"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Michail Stamatakis",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8338-8706"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Aidong Yang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dermot O' Hare",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8054-8751"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9haamjx9862rm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6ee05130h",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13711158",
  "id": "9haamjx9862rm",
  "issns": [
    "1754-5692",
    "1754-5706"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948402",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Chemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2204|Catalysis for Biomass Conversion"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223793312",
  "pdf_url": "https://pubs.rsc.org/ee/article-pdf/doi/10.1039/d6ee05130h/14950596/d6ee05130h.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13711158",
  "pmid": "42948402",
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9haamjx9862rm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T00:20:33Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42948402",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948402"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:21:59Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13711158",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ee05130h"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "heading:Chemistry",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Methylcyclohexane-assisted polypropylene upcycling over PtRu/Al₂O₃ via tandem dehydrogenation-hydrogenolysis.",
  "title_text": "Methylcyclohexane-assisted polypropylene upcycling over PtRu/Al₂O₃ via tandem dehydrogenation-hydrogenolysis.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T12:21:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9haamjx9862rm",
  "venue": "Energy & environmental science",
  "versions": []
}