Sustainable microwave-driven CO2 gasification of plastic waste for high-yield H2 and CO production

The efficiency and sustainability for the recycling of plastic wastes into hydrogen was investigated. An integrated microwave-driven valorization of plastic wastes and CO₂ for H₂ and CO production was proposed. Specifically, plastic wastes were decomposed into H₂ and solid carbons, followed by carbon elimination via CO₂ gasification under microwave irradiation. Through the high-throughput screen of catalysts as well as the optimization of key parameters, over 96% hydrogen was converted into H₂ with a yield of 480 mmol∙g⁻¹H_plastic while the carbon conversion and CO₂ conversion reached up to 70% and 53%. The five-cycle successive test displayed extraordinarily high and stable catalytic activity due to the facile elimination of carbon deposition. The application for real-world plastic wastes further demonstrated the efficient microwave-driven CO₂ gasification of plastic wastes into H₂ and CO production as a feasible and sustainable technology toward the waste-to-energy circular economy.