Yukari Yamazaki, Xiongjie Jin, Weihan Sun, Satoshi Yamamoto, Katsutoshi Nomoto, Kohei Takahashi, Hiroki Miura, Tetsuya Shishido, Akira Nakayama, Kyoko Nozaki
Abstract Hydrogenolysis of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) under low pressure of H 2 has been accomplished with a Ru─Pt bimetallic alloy catalyst. Using Ru 5 Pt 1 /CeO 2 (atomic ratio of Ru to Pt is 5:1) as a catalyst, LDPE was efficiently converted (97.6 ± 2.5% conversion) to gas and liquid hydrocarbons under 5 bar of H 2 at 200 °C, whereas Ru/CeO 2 and Pt/CeO 2 showed much lower conversion (45.7 ± 3.7% and < 1%, respectively), under the same conditions. Mechanistic studies suggested that the higher activity of Ru 5 Pt 1 /CeO 2 can be attributed to the synergistic effect of Ru (cleavage of C─C bond) and Pt (acceleration of Ru─alkyl hydrogenation step) on the catalyst surface.