Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00265-z
Sui Zhang
Advancing the production of covalent organic frameworks toward faster and more sustainable routes is crucial to realizing their potential in large-scale applications. Now, a variety of covalent organic framework platelets with high crystallinity can be produced rapidly using a pressure-assisted hot-pressing strategy.
{"title":"Hot off the press","authors":"Sui Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00265-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00265-z","url":null,"abstract":"Advancing the production of covalent organic frameworks toward faster and more sustainable routes is crucial to realizing their potential in large-scale applications. Now, a variety of covalent organic framework platelets with high crystallinity can be produced rapidly using a pressure-assisted hot-pressing strategy.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"535-536"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00273-z
Yurun Miao, Shunyi Zheng, Kayley E. Waltz, Mueed Ahmad, Xinpei Zhou, Yegui Zhou, Heting Wang, J. Anibal Boscoboinik, Qi Liu, Kumar Varoon Agrawal, Oleg Kostko, Liwei Zhuang, Michael Tsapatsis
Amorphous zeolitic imidazolate framework (aZIF) films have been recently introduced as resists for electron beam and extreme ultraviolet lithography. aZIFs are also being considered for separation applications, including thin film membranes. However, the reported methods for aZIF deposition are currently based on highly empirical trial-and-error approaches that hinder control of film composition, thickness and uniformity as well as scale-up and transferability to different coating geometries. This work presents a method for depositing aZIF films with controllable thickness using dilute precursors mixed immediately before encountering the substrate. Importantly, the method is amenable to quantitative analysis by computational fluid dynamics to extract intrinsic deposition rates and limiting reactant transport diffusivities, enabling predictive physics-based modeling of the deposition process. This allows the deposition method to be adapted for spin coating on silicon wafers to prepare high-quality aZIF films with consistently controlled thickness. Using this approach, high-resolution resist performance and wafer-scale use for beyond extreme-ultraviolet lithography of aZIF films is demonstrated. The lack of reliable coating methods for amorphous zeolitic imidazolate framework (aZIF) materials hinders their development for applications such as photolithography and separation membranes. Supported by computational fluid dynamics modeling, the authors develop a spin-coating technique to deposit aZIF films from dilute precursors and demonstrate their wafer-scale use in advanced lithographic processes.
{"title":"Spin-on deposition of amorphous zeolitic imidazolate framework films for lithography applications","authors":"Yurun Miao, Shunyi Zheng, Kayley E. Waltz, Mueed Ahmad, Xinpei Zhou, Yegui Zhou, Heting Wang, J. Anibal Boscoboinik, Qi Liu, Kumar Varoon Agrawal, Oleg Kostko, Liwei Zhuang, Michael Tsapatsis","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00273-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00273-z","url":null,"abstract":"Amorphous zeolitic imidazolate framework (aZIF) films have been recently introduced as resists for electron beam and extreme ultraviolet lithography. aZIFs are also being considered for separation applications, including thin film membranes. However, the reported methods for aZIF deposition are currently based on highly empirical trial-and-error approaches that hinder control of film composition, thickness and uniformity as well as scale-up and transferability to different coating geometries. This work presents a method for depositing aZIF films with controllable thickness using dilute precursors mixed immediately before encountering the substrate. Importantly, the method is amenable to quantitative analysis by computational fluid dynamics to extract intrinsic deposition rates and limiting reactant transport diffusivities, enabling predictive physics-based modeling of the deposition process. This allows the deposition method to be adapted for spin coating on silicon wafers to prepare high-quality aZIF films with consistently controlled thickness. Using this approach, high-resolution resist performance and wafer-scale use for beyond extreme-ultraviolet lithography of aZIF films is demonstrated. The lack of reliable coating methods for amorphous zeolitic imidazolate framework (aZIF) materials hinders their development for applications such as photolithography and separation membranes. Supported by computational fluid dynamics modeling, the authors develop a spin-coating technique to deposit aZIF films from dilute precursors and demonstrate their wafer-scale use in advanced lithographic processes.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"594-607"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00277-9
Yehao Jin, Haozhi Wang, Hongfei Cheng, Mengchu Feng, Meng Zhang, Qingling Fu, Zhibing Sun, Xiantao Zeng, Yuze Sun, Wenjun Tuo, Bingbing Cheng, Shan Wang, Qianyou Wang, Qinglang Ma, Bo Wang
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have demonstrated superior performance in wide-ranging applications, yet their practical deployment has been long hindered by their inconvenient synthesis protocols. Toxic solvents, tedious procedures and long reaction times are typically involved in their synthesis, and microcrystalline powders are commonly obtained, which are unfavorable in practical use. Unfortunately, newly developed methods aiming to resolve these challenges often lead to deteriorated COF crystallinity and porosity. Here we develop a solid-phase hot-pressing method to fabricate 15 types of highly crystalline COF platelet of various linkage types, including imine-, hydrazone-, β-ketoenamine- and imide-linked COFs. Moreover, COF platelets with complex chemical structures, including a COF with three-dimensional geometry and a COF with multiple monomer components, have been successfully obtained. In particular, all COF platelets can be obtained within a short processing time of 0.5–5 min, with high crystallinity and porosity. Finally, as a proof-of-concept application, a β-ketoenamine-linked COF platelet is directly assembled into an atmospheric water harvesting device, demonstrating excellent water collecting performance. A solid-phase hot-pressing method is introduced, which can rapidly produce highly crystalline covalent organic framework platelets in a convenient, solvent-free manner. Fifteen platelets of various linkage types are produced, with a proof-of-concept demonstration of the resulting high-performing platelet type in an atmospheric water harvesting device.
{"title":"Rapid solid-phase synthesis of highly crystalline covalent organic framework platelets","authors":"Yehao Jin, Haozhi Wang, Hongfei Cheng, Mengchu Feng, Meng Zhang, Qingling Fu, Zhibing Sun, Xiantao Zeng, Yuze Sun, Wenjun Tuo, Bingbing Cheng, Shan Wang, Qianyou Wang, Qinglang Ma, Bo Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00277-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00277-9","url":null,"abstract":"Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have demonstrated superior performance in wide-ranging applications, yet their practical deployment has been long hindered by their inconvenient synthesis protocols. Toxic solvents, tedious procedures and long reaction times are typically involved in their synthesis, and microcrystalline powders are commonly obtained, which are unfavorable in practical use. Unfortunately, newly developed methods aiming to resolve these challenges often lead to deteriorated COF crystallinity and porosity. Here we develop a solid-phase hot-pressing method to fabricate 15 types of highly crystalline COF platelet of various linkage types, including imine-, hydrazone-, β-ketoenamine- and imide-linked COFs. Moreover, COF platelets with complex chemical structures, including a COF with three-dimensional geometry and a COF with multiple monomer components, have been successfully obtained. In particular, all COF platelets can be obtained within a short processing time of 0.5–5 min, with high crystallinity and porosity. Finally, as a proof-of-concept application, a β-ketoenamine-linked COF platelet is directly assembled into an atmospheric water harvesting device, demonstrating excellent water collecting performance. A solid-phase hot-pressing method is introduced, which can rapidly produce highly crystalline covalent organic framework platelets in a convenient, solvent-free manner. Fifteen platelets of various linkage types are produced, with a proof-of-concept demonstration of the resulting high-performing platelet type in an atmospheric water harvesting device.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"581-593"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00277-9
Yehao Jin, Haozhi Wang, Hongfei Cheng, Mengchu Feng, Meng Zhang, Qingling Fu, Zhibing Sun, Xiantao Zeng, Yuze Sun, Wenjun Tuo, Bingbing Cheng, Shan Wang, Qianyou Wang, Qinglang Ma, Bo Wang
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have demonstrated superior performance in wide-ranging applications, yet their practical deployment has been long hindered by their inconvenient synthesis protocols. Toxic solvents, tedious procedures and long reaction times are typically involved in their synthesis, and microcrystalline powders are commonly obtained, which are unfavorable in practical use. Unfortunately, newly developed methods aiming to resolve these challenges often lead to deteriorated COF crystallinity and porosity. Here we develop a solid-phase hot-pressing method to fabricate 15 types of highly crystalline COF platelet of various linkage types, including imine-, hydrazone-, β-ketoenamine- and imide-linked COFs. Moreover, COF platelets with complex chemical structures, including a COF with three-dimensional geometry and a COF with multiple monomer components, have been successfully obtained. In particular, all COF platelets can be obtained within a short processing time of 0.5–5 min, with high crystallinity and porosity. Finally, as a proof-of-concept application, a β-ketoenamine-linked COF platelet is directly assembled into an atmospheric water harvesting device, demonstrating excellent water collecting performance. A solid-phase hot-pressing method is introduced, which can rapidly produce highly crystalline covalent organic framework platelets in a convenient, solvent-free manner. Fifteen platelets of various linkage types are produced, with a proof-of-concept demonstration of the resulting high-performing platelet type in an atmospheric water harvesting device.
{"title":"Rapid solid-phase synthesis of highly crystalline covalent organic framework platelets","authors":"Yehao Jin, Haozhi Wang, Hongfei Cheng, Mengchu Feng, Meng Zhang, Qingling Fu, Zhibing Sun, Xiantao Zeng, Yuze Sun, Wenjun Tuo, Bingbing Cheng, Shan Wang, Qianyou Wang, Qinglang Ma, Bo Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00277-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00277-9","url":null,"abstract":"Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have demonstrated superior performance in wide-ranging applications, yet their practical deployment has been long hindered by their inconvenient synthesis protocols. Toxic solvents, tedious procedures and long reaction times are typically involved in their synthesis, and microcrystalline powders are commonly obtained, which are unfavorable in practical use. Unfortunately, newly developed methods aiming to resolve these challenges often lead to deteriorated COF crystallinity and porosity. Here we develop a solid-phase hot-pressing method to fabricate 15 types of highly crystalline COF platelet of various linkage types, including imine-, hydrazone-, β-ketoenamine- and imide-linked COFs. Moreover, COF platelets with complex chemical structures, including a COF with three-dimensional geometry and a COF with multiple monomer components, have been successfully obtained. In particular, all COF platelets can be obtained within a short processing time of 0.5–5 min, with high crystallinity and porosity. Finally, as a proof-of-concept application, a β-ketoenamine-linked COF platelet is directly assembled into an atmospheric water harvesting device, demonstrating excellent water collecting performance. A solid-phase hot-pressing method is introduced, which can rapidly produce highly crystalline covalent organic framework platelets in a convenient, solvent-free manner. Fifteen platelets of various linkage types are produced, with a proof-of-concept demonstration of the resulting high-performing platelet type in an atmospheric water harvesting device.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"581-593"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-10DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00268-w
Giovanni Aprile, Cedric Devos, Thomas Vetter, Gerard Capellades, Kevin P. Girard, Christopher L. Burcham, Venkateswarlu Bhamidi, Daniel Green, Torsten Stelzer, Richard D. Braatz, Allan S. Myerson
This Comment explores why continuous crystallization, despite its success in other industries, remains underutilized in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Among other challenges, we highlight two core issues: the lack of off-the-shelf small-scale equipment with integrated monitoring tools, and the absence of compatible continuous downstream units for filtration and drying, both of which limit practical implementation.
{"title":"Reflecting on barriers to continuous pharmaceutical crystallization","authors":"Giovanni Aprile, Cedric Devos, Thomas Vetter, Gerard Capellades, Kevin P. Girard, Christopher L. Burcham, Venkateswarlu Bhamidi, Daniel Green, Torsten Stelzer, Richard D. Braatz, Allan S. Myerson","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00268-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00268-w","url":null,"abstract":"This Comment explores why continuous crystallization, despite its success in other industries, remains underutilized in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Among other challenges, we highlight two core issues: the lack of off-the-shelf small-scale equipment with integrated monitoring tools, and the absence of compatible continuous downstream units for filtration and drying, both of which limit practical implementation.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"520-523"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-10DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00268-w
Giovanni Aprile, Cedric Devos, Thomas Vetter, Gerard Capellades, Kevin P. Girard, Christopher L. Burcham, Venkateswarlu Bhamidi, Daniel Green, Torsten Stelzer, Richard D. Braatz, Allan S. Myerson
This Comment explores why continuous crystallization, despite its success in other industries, remains underutilized in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Among other challenges, we highlight two core issues: the lack of off-the-shelf small-scale equipment with integrated monitoring tools, and the absence of compatible continuous downstream units for filtration and drying, both of which limit practical implementation.
{"title":"Reflecting on barriers to continuous pharmaceutical crystallization","authors":"Giovanni Aprile, Cedric Devos, Thomas Vetter, Gerard Capellades, Kevin P. Girard, Christopher L. Burcham, Venkateswarlu Bhamidi, Daniel Green, Torsten Stelzer, Richard D. Braatz, Allan S. Myerson","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00268-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00268-w","url":null,"abstract":"This Comment explores why continuous crystallization, despite its success in other industries, remains underutilized in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Among other challenges, we highlight two core issues: the lack of off-the-shelf small-scale equipment with integrated monitoring tools, and the absence of compatible continuous downstream units for filtration and drying, both of which limit practical implementation.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"520-523"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00275-x
Julia B. Curley, Yuanzhe Liang, Jason S. DesVeaux, Hoon Choi, Ryan W. Clarke, Anjani K. Maurya, William E. Michener, Lisa M. Stanley, Yue Wu, Sarah A. Hesse, Andrea L. Baer, Hudson A. Neyer, Christopher J. Tassone, Alan J. Jacobsen, Ofei D. Mante, Gregg T. Beckham, Katrina M. Knauer
A sustainable plastics future will require high recycling rates and the use of biogenic feedstocks, which together are catalyzing interest in replacing fossil fuel-derived, noncircular polyolefin packaging materials with bio-based, chemically recyclable polyesters. Here we present a catalytic methanolysis process capable of depolymerizing both fossil fuel- and bio-based polyesters, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid, polybutylene adipate terephthalate and polybutylene succinate in one reactor under mild conditions with high monomer yields. We scaled this process to 1 kg and integrated separations engineering using activated carbon, crystallization, extraction and distillation to remove contaminants and recover individual monomers from depolymerized mixed polyesters with high yield and purity. PET synthesized from monomers isolated from postconsumer materials showed comparable mechanical and thermal properties to PET from commercial monomers. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment show that this process is economically viable and exhibits lower environmental impacts than primary production of respective polymers. Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.
{"title":"Closed-loop recycling of mixed polyesters via catalytic methanolysis and monomer separations","authors":"Julia B. Curley, Yuanzhe Liang, Jason S. DesVeaux, Hoon Choi, Ryan W. Clarke, Anjani K. Maurya, William E. Michener, Lisa M. Stanley, Yue Wu, Sarah A. Hesse, Andrea L. Baer, Hudson A. Neyer, Christopher J. Tassone, Alan J. Jacobsen, Ofei D. Mante, Gregg T. Beckham, Katrina M. Knauer","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00275-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00275-x","url":null,"abstract":"A sustainable plastics future will require high recycling rates and the use of biogenic feedstocks, which together are catalyzing interest in replacing fossil fuel-derived, noncircular polyolefin packaging materials with bio-based, chemically recyclable polyesters. Here we present a catalytic methanolysis process capable of depolymerizing both fossil fuel- and bio-based polyesters, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid, polybutylene adipate terephthalate and polybutylene succinate in one reactor under mild conditions with high monomer yields. We scaled this process to 1 kg and integrated separations engineering using activated carbon, crystallization, extraction and distillation to remove contaminants and recover individual monomers from depolymerized mixed polyesters with high yield and purity. PET synthesized from monomers isolated from postconsumer materials showed comparable mechanical and thermal properties to PET from commercial monomers. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment show that this process is economically viable and exhibits lower environmental impacts than primary production of respective polymers. Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"568-580"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00275-x
Julia B. Curley, Yuanzhe Liang, Jason S. DesVeaux, Hoon Choi, Ryan W. Clarke, Anjani K. Maurya, William E. Michener, Lisa M. Stanley, Yue Wu, Sarah A. Hesse, Andrea L. Baer, Hudson A. Neyer, Christopher J. Tassone, Alan J. Jacobsen, Ofei D. Mante, Gregg T. Beckham, Katrina M. Knauer
A sustainable plastics future will require high recycling rates and the use of biogenic feedstocks, which together are catalyzing interest in replacing fossil fuel-derived, noncircular polyolefin packaging materials with bio-based, chemically recyclable polyesters. Here we present a catalytic methanolysis process capable of depolymerizing both fossil fuel- and bio-based polyesters, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid, polybutylene adipate terephthalate and polybutylene succinate in one reactor under mild conditions with high monomer yields. We scaled this process to 1 kg and integrated separations engineering using activated carbon, crystallization, extraction and distillation to remove contaminants and recover individual monomers from depolymerized mixed polyesters with high yield and purity. PET synthesized from monomers isolated from postconsumer materials showed comparable mechanical and thermal properties to PET from commercial monomers. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment show that this process is economically viable and exhibits lower environmental impacts than primary production of respective polymers. Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.
{"title":"Closed-loop recycling of mixed polyesters via catalytic methanolysis and monomer separations","authors":"Julia B. Curley, Yuanzhe Liang, Jason S. DesVeaux, Hoon Choi, Ryan W. Clarke, Anjani K. Maurya, William E. Michener, Lisa M. Stanley, Yue Wu, Sarah A. Hesse, Andrea L. Baer, Hudson A. Neyer, Christopher J. Tassone, Alan J. Jacobsen, Ofei D. Mante, Gregg T. Beckham, Katrina M. Knauer","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00275-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00275-x","url":null,"abstract":"A sustainable plastics future will require high recycling rates and the use of biogenic feedstocks, which together are catalyzing interest in replacing fossil fuel-derived, noncircular polyolefin packaging materials with bio-based, chemically recyclable polyesters. Here we present a catalytic methanolysis process capable of depolymerizing both fossil fuel- and bio-based polyesters, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid, polybutylene adipate terephthalate and polybutylene succinate in one reactor under mild conditions with high monomer yields. We scaled this process to 1 kg and integrated separations engineering using activated carbon, crystallization, extraction and distillation to remove contaminants and recover individual monomers from depolymerized mixed polyesters with high yield and purity. PET synthesized from monomers isolated from postconsumer materials showed comparable mechanical and thermal properties to PET from commercial monomers. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment show that this process is economically viable and exhibits lower environmental impacts than primary production of respective polymers. Net-zero bioplastics are possible when combined with high recycling rates. This study presents a mixed polyester recycling process integrated with monomer separation and purification for both fossil- and bio-based plastics. Techno-economic and life cycle analyses confirm its environmental and commercial advantages, advancing the path toward circular, low-emission polyester plastics.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"568-580"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00278-8
Kevin M. Van Geem
Chemical recycling of mixed polyester waste presents a monumental challenge for achieving a circular plastics economy due to material incompatibility and contamination. Now, a catalytic methanolysis process demonstrates a scalable, efficient and selective method for recycling mixed polyester waste.
{"title":"Closing the loop on mixed polyester recycling","authors":"Kevin M. Van Geem","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00278-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00278-8","url":null,"abstract":"Chemical recycling of mixed polyester waste presents a monumental challenge for achieving a circular plastics economy due to material incompatibility and contamination. Now, a catalytic methanolysis process demonstrates a scalable, efficient and selective method for recycling mixed polyester waste.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"531-532"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00278-8
Kevin M. Van Geem
Chemical recycling of mixed polyester waste presents a monumental challenge for achieving a circular plastics economy due to material incompatibility and contamination. Now, a catalytic methanolysis process demonstrates a scalable, efficient and selective method for recycling mixed polyester waste.
{"title":"Closing the loop on mixed polyester recycling","authors":"Kevin M. Van Geem","doi":"10.1038/s44286-025-00278-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-025-00278-8","url":null,"abstract":"Chemical recycling of mixed polyester waste presents a monumental challenge for achieving a circular plastics economy due to material incompatibility and contamination. Now, a catalytic methanolysis process demonstrates a scalable, efficient and selective method for recycling mixed polyester waste.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"2 9","pages":"531-532"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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