Valorization of poly(butylene succinate) to tetrahydrofuran via one-pot catalytic hydrogenolysis

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), a biodegradable plastic, is expected to have a huge consumer product market in the near future. In this work, PBS was found to be an excellent source of producing valuable tetrahydrofuran (THF), through a solvent-less catalytic hydrogenolysis process over a Pd/C catalyst. A high THF yield, 59.5 wt%, was achieved via a simple one-pot reaction under mild temperature conditions (240 °C). This technique provides a distinctive but important method for the green production of THF from spent PBS.