We provide a new method to source
fatty alcohols from poly(ethylene)
(PE) pyrolysis oil. To this end, we have developed a new one-pot process
to obtain fatty alcohols from a mixture of long chain alkenes and
alkanes (C10–C20) that is obtained from pyrolyzed PE. Hydroboration–oxidation
methods with and without an isomerization step were investigated for
converting all types of alkenes present in the PE pyrolysis oil to
primary alcohols only, following the anti-Markovnikov rule. Our process
showed 91%–98% conversion of the alkenes to alcohols in a one-pot
reaction at a scale of 50 g at low temperature (10–25 °C)
under ambient pressure. In addition, the efficiency of the process
was confirmed by testing several types of pyrolysis oil derived from
commercial waste PE where alcohol recovery reached 83%–92%
based on the amount of alkenes in the PE pyrolysis oil. As fatty alcohols
are commodity chemicals, our study can pave the way for converting
waste plastics into high value chemicals, a welcome energy and materials
saving shortcut to the specialty chemicals market.
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