SBIR Phase I: Catalytic Conversion of Secondary Source Polyvinyl Chloride into Higher-Value Hydrocarbon Waxes

The broader/ commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project lies in its potential to strengthen the supply chain resilience by converting secondary source polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into higher-value chemical products. Despite its prevalence in construction and packaging sectors, PVC is rarely used as a secondary source because its high chlorine content and complex additives disrupt conventional processing technologies. This proposed technology addresses this bottleneck by safely extracting and harvesting chlorine for industrial reuse while simultaneously transforming the remaining mass into valuable industrial wax. It provides the chemical industry with an important and economic alternative for secondary PVC sources, creating new market opportunities for high-purity waxes. Ultimately, this innovation establishes a circular economy model for one of the world's most challenging plastic materials. This project pursues the development of a novel catalytic process designed to selectively convert secondary polyvinyl chloride into higher-value saturated hydrocarbon waxes through integrated dechlorination and hydrogenation. The core technical innovation centers on the design of highly active, poison-resistant alloy catalysts that favor polyene hydrogenation over competing side reactions that typically produce low-value gas or carbonaceous char. A primary goal of the research is to achieve 100% chlorine removal, ensuring the resulting wax meets the stringent purity standards required for downstream industrial applications. The project will establish critical structure-property relationships governing selective hydrogenation in the presence of complex PVC additives and residual halogens. The methodology integrates the synthesis of catalysts with tailored surface compositions and particle structures, followed by model compound studies to isolate and understand fundamental reaction pathways. These findings will be validated through performance testing using real-world PVC materials obtained from strategic partners, allowing the team to evaluate catalytic activity and stability under realistic, contaminated conditions. To ensure a viable path to market, outcomes will be characterized by quantifying wax yield, molecular weight distribution, and the precise degree of hydrogenation. Furthermore, the project will validate scalability by comparing results across bench-scale and kilogram-scale experiments. This rigorous approach will produce a definitive set of catalytic design rules and process benchmarks, establishing a solid foundation for transitioning to a continuous pre-pilot system. By demonstrating the feasibility of producing market-ready hydrocarbon waxes from secondary PVC sources, this work provides a potentially transformative solution for domestic manufacturing and resource conservation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.