Process achieves high yield and selectivity for converting polystyrene to toluene

Researchers at Nanjing Forestry University and Tsinghua University report a new process that converts polystyrene (PS) waste into toluene with high yield and excellent selectivity—overcoming prior approaches that suffered from low yields and broad product slates. The work highlights PS as a viable feedstock for producing valuable aromatic petrochemicals.

What do you see as the biggest barriers to scaling this high-selectivity PS-to-toluene process in real-world recycling streams (for example, contamination, energy use, or economics)?