The global demand for polymers has led to severe environmental challenges, including waste accumulation, resource depletion, and pollution. Current recycling methods for complex polymer waste face limitations in efficiency, scalability, and sustainability. Recently, greener and renewable-based solvents have attracted attention for different purposes, including for extraction and purification processes, due to their potential low toxicity compared to traditional ones, as well as their cost-effective synthesis and recoverability. Therefore, this study underscores the transformative potential of specifically designed eutectic solvents (ES) and biosolvents in overcoming these challenges, enabling the efficient physical recycling of traditionally difficult-to-recycle polymer waste, including complex Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, poly(ethylene terephthalate)/cotton textile blends. Chemical recycling of biobased poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) employing mixtures of urea : zinc acetate ES system demonstrated its efficiency in mediating glycolysis catalysis in a closed-loop recycling process, from waste to polymers preserving virgin-quality properties.1

Over the past years, textile industry has been pointed as a major contributor to global plastic production, consumption, and consequently environmental plastic pollution. Global fiber production has almost doubled from 58 million tons in 2000 to 113 million tons in 2021. These numbers are still expected to grow up to 149 million tons by 2030. Polyester fibers (polyethylene terephthalate or PET) account for 54% of the market share, being the most used fiber worldwide. However, textile recycling remains a challenge due to the low cost of virgin fibers and clothing collects issues, but also the fact that most of actual clothes are composed by blended fibers. Therefore, 70% of the textile waste is either incinerated either landfilled1.
The introduction of dynamic bonds to thermoplastics represents a promising approach to valorize textile waste in order to obtain high-value recycled products with enhanced properties. PET-based CANs were elaborated through reactive extrusion by adding bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (DGEBA) as crosslinking agent and the nature of transesterification catalyst was explored. A comparative study between Zn(acac)2 and zinc-based ionic liquid was conducted, showing the impact of ionic liquid catalyst on the relaxation time, thermal stability and different relaxation modes. Besides the use as catalyst, this work presents the synthesis of innovative and autocatalytic systems using a new generation of epoxidized ionic liquids2.

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is one of the most widely used polymers globally, valued for its versatility in applications ranging from construction to medical devices. To tailor its properties for specific uses, various modifiers are incorporated into PVC compounds. However, many traditional additives, such as phthalates, are being phased out due to environmental, health, and safety concerns. At the same time, European Union regulations mandate an increased use of recycled content in polymer materials, creating a growing need for PVC compounds with enhanced recyclability. To achieve this, it is essential to establish a systematic methodology for designing PVC formulations and evaluating their performance after multiple recycling cycles.
In this study, PVC blends containing different modifiers were prepared and subjected to up to six extrusion cycles to simulate multiple reprocessing steps. The quality of the recycled PVC blends was assessed using several experimental techniques, including thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), plastograph analysis, thermal stability tests, and mechanical testing. Additionally, plasticizer content was analyzed to monitor potential loss during reprocessing. The results demonstrated that the tested blends exhibited good stability; however, one formulation exhibited excessive plasticizer loss during early reprocessing stages, which indicated that the initial amount of plasticizer was too high. It led to significantly worse mechanical properties of the virgin blend.
The findings were used to develop a methodology for designing PVC blends with improved recyclability. This approach can aid researchers and process engineers in optimizing polymer formulations for industrial applications.

The global plastic waste crisis stems from unsustainable design and a linear economy that leads to massive environmental pollution. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), widely used in packaging and textiles is one of the primary contributors to this issue.[1] While mechanical recycling of PET results in degraded material quality, chemical recycling offers a promising alternative, enabling the transformation of PET waste into valuable monomers and precursors. In this study, post-consumer PET waste is chemically upcycled into bifunctional aromatic amine that can serve as effective building block for polyhexahydrotriazine (PHT) aerogels.[2] Additionally, terephthalamide moieties incorporated into the molecular design, enhance the formed network by hydrogen bonding. The resulting PHT aerogels exhibit low density, high mechanical robustness, and outstanding thermal insulation properties. More importantly, these novel PHT aerogels are designed for recyclability, enabling depolymerization under aqueous acidic conditions and efficient monomer recovery in high yield and purity. The recycled monomer can then be immediately reused to produce new aerogels with nearly identical material properties. This work highlights the potential of upcycling plastic waste into sustainable thermally superinsulating materials designed for a circular economy.

Polyolefins, namely polyethylene and polypropylene (PO), represent the largest segment of plastic production and they account for over half of all plastic waste by weight. Nowadays, polyolefin recycling primarily relies on mechanical recycling and thermal conversion, such as pyrolysis and incineration . Developing catalytic processes to upgrade polyolefins into value-added chemicals is a challenge. Hydrogenolysis of PO over Ni – based catalyst is promising process as it operates at mild conditions , however high yield of undesired methane could hinder its scalability.
In this study, we prepared a series of Ni-containing catalysts with particle sizes ranging from ̴ 3 nm to 19 nm by incipient wetness impregnation, using varying amounts of citric acid to control the particle size . Hydrogenolysis reaction of model polyethylene (PE, Mw = 4000, Mn = 1700) over obtained catalysts were performed in batch autoclave. The results of the performed catalytic experiments indicated that as the Ni particle size decreases, catalyst’s activity significantly improves, resulting in a higher yield of valuable liquid, mainly linear hydrocarbons (C5-C30). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis shows a decreasing melting point of solid residue, consisting predominantly of wax with a melting point range of 40-80°C when smaller Ni particles are used. Larger Ni particles also produce more very heavy paraffins with a melting point range of 85- 95°C (Fig. 1a,b).
To summarize, our findings demonstrate that small Ni nanoparticles are beneficial for improving the yield of liquid hydrocarbons in PE hydrogenolysis.

Plastics' widespread use has played a major role in driving economic progress worldwide, with an annual production exceeding 400 million tons in 2022 [1]. Nevertheless, only a small portion (c.a. 15%) undergoes recycling [2]. In that regard, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) have been used extensively and it is the most recycled polyester worldwide. Given the imminent market introduction of poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) (PEF) it is important to evaluate the impact on the recycling stream of PET due to their potential mixture. Recently, some approaches using eutectic solvents (ES) have been advantageously explored for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) chemical recycling [3,4].
Despite the enormous importance and impact on PET recycling, this is the first study reporting the structural, thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of the recycled copolymers rPET-co-PEF. In this work, the ability of a greener chemical recycling system using ES (Urea:Zinc acetate) as catalyst was tested in the chemical recycling of PET with PEF residual molar percentages, considering 2%, 5% and 10%. The thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of the rPET-co-PEFs revealed very similar thermal behaviour compared to virgin PET. Moreover, the depolymerization mechanism was studied through DFT calculations, revelling that the hydrogen bond between the urea amine groups and the ester have a major role in reducing the reaction activation energy proving the catalytic effect of used urea-based ES.
The characterization of recycled rPET-co-PEF reveal very similar thermal behaviour compared to the virgin PET. Moreover, the depolymerization mechanism study proved the crucial role of urea in decreasing the depolymerization activation energy (Figure 1).