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US 11,596,935 B2Granted
Catalytic polymer processing
AssigneeUchicago Argonne, LLC
InventorsMassimiliano Delferro, Magali S. Ferrandon, Kenneth R. Poeppelmeier, Aaron D. Sadow, Susannah Scott, Anne M. LaPointe, Geoffrey Coates
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of upcycling polymers to useful hydrocarbon materials. A catalyst with nanoparticles on a substrate selectively docks and cleaves longer hydrocarbon chains over shorter hydrocarbon chains. The catalyst includes metal nanoparticles in an order array on a substrate.
Claims7
A method of processing a polymer comprising:
- exposing the polymer to a catalyst at a temperature of 100° C. to 500° C. at a pressure of 1 atms to 68 atms;
- docking the polymer to the catalyst comprising an ordered array of nanoparticles on a crystalline substrate, with the polymer docked at a first nanoparticle within the ordered array of nanoparticles;
- cleaving at least one carbon-carbon bond of the polymer at a second nanoparticle within the ordered array of nanoparticles;
- and
- forming a plurality of hydrocarbon fragments from the cleaving, at least one of the hydrocarbon fragments having a carbon backbone less than an interparticle distance between the first nanoparticle and the second nanoparticle;
- wherein the polymer has a carbon backbone length greater than the interparticle distance.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.