ArticleNature communications2025
Upcycling waste polystyrene to adipic acid through a hybrid chemical and biological process.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Continuous-Flow Conversion of Waste Polystyrene Into Styrene Monomers Utilizing the Microwave-Concentration Effect on Spherical Activated Carbon.ChemSusChem · 2026Article
- Effects of Polymer Morphology on Solvent and Catalyst Accessibility during Polyethylene and Polystyrene Autoxidation.JACS Au · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Oxidative catalytic depolymerization of polystyrene (PS) can produce benzoic acid, but the annual consumption of benzoic acid is ~40 times lower than PS. For this catalytic oxidation method to be a viable means to manage PS waste, benzoic acid should be converted to higher-volume chemicals. We demonstrate a hybrid chemical and biological process that uses PS as feedstock for production of adipic acid, a high-volume co-monomer for nylon 6,6 via benzoic acid. Mn/Br co-catalyzed autoxidation of PS to benzoic acid proceeds with a yield of up to 94% in a solvent mixture of benzoic acid and water. The PS-derived benzoic acid undergoes bioconversion at near-quantitative yield to muconic acid, which is readily converted to adipic acid through catalytic hydrogenation. Process modeling, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle assessment estimate an adipic acid minimum selling price of $3.18/kg, with a 61% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions relative to production from fossil fuels.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.