Selective hydrogenolysis of waste polyolefins to aviation fuel over a Co‑modified Ni/SiO2 catalyst

Co-modified Ni/SiO 2 produces aviation fuel from polyolefins under mild conditions. • Co doping modulates Ni electronic structure to favor internal C-C bond cleavage. • The yield of liquid reaches 82.3% with 79.0% selectivity to the C 8 -C 16 fraction. • Coupled with green energy, the process reduces carbon footprint by 80%. The escalating accumulation of plastic waste poses a major threat to global sustainability. Converting waste polyolefins into aviation fuel offers a promising valorization route, but the challenge remains in overcoming the limited performance of non-noble metal catalysts. Here, a 10Ni-2Co/SiO 2 catalyst was developed that achieved an excellent balance between activity and selectivity for polyethylene hydrogenolysis. Under mild conditions at 280 °C and 3 MPa H 2 , it delivered an 82.3% liquid yield with 79.0% selectivity toward C 8 -C 16 hydrocarbons. The incorporation of Co induced the coexistence of Ni 0 and Ni δ+ species, which may have facilitated internal C-C bond cleavage along the polyethylene backbone. This synergy may have contributed to hydrogen activation and C-C bond cleavage, which may have promoted a continuous “cleavage-hydrogenation-desorption” sequence, thereby helping to suppress excessive chain scission and favoring the selective formation of aviation-fuel-range hydrocarbons. This catalyst also showed broad applicability to other real-life waste polyolefins, and when powered by renewable energy, the process achieved a significantly reduced carbon footprint, offering a sustainable route for plastic upcycling and aviation decarbonization. Download: Download high-res image (175KB) Download: Download full-size image Co-modified Ni/SiO 2 catalyst enables mild and selective hydrogenolysis of waste polyolefins into aviation fuel (C 8 -C 16 hydrocarbons), achieving the highest yield of 65.1%.