Catalytic Technologies for Waste Recycling and Conversion: Driving Sustainable Innovation
Author: Dr. Ahmad Saylam
Document type: Open technical preprint
Version: v1
Publication date:
Technical status: Narrative technical review and development overview. It summarizes catalytic concepts, process routes, benefits and implementation challenges; it is not a validated catalyst-selection model, final process design, environmental certification or industrial performance guarantee.
Zenodo record: https://zenodo.org/records/19769295
Abstract
Catalysis is a cornerstone of sustainable waste management, offering transformative solutions for recycling and converting waste into valuable resources. This study explores the critical role of catalysts in optimizing processes for organic-waste conversion, biomass utilization and chemical recycling of plastics.
By enhancing efficiency, selectivity and product yields, catalytic systems such as metal oxides, zeolites and nickel-based materials can support the production of biofuels, monomers, syngas and other products while reducing selected energy and environmental burdens.
The paper reviews catalytic technologies associated with hydrothermal liquefaction, pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization and bio-oil upgrading. It also discusses practical limitations, including catalyst deactivation, feedstock heterogeneity, contamination, cost, recovery, regeneration, scalability and environmental management.
Emerging directions include nanostructured catalysts, biocatalysts, photocatalysts, electrocatalysts and hybrid systems. Their industrial value depends on matching catalyst chemistry and reactor conditions to the actual feedstock, product objective, separation train and operating constraints.
Processes covered
- catalytic and biocatalytic conversion of organic waste;
- hydrothermal liquefaction of wet biomass and organic residues;
- catalytic pyrolysis and gasification of biomass and plastics;
- catalytic depolymerization and monomer recovery;
- syngas conditioning, reforming and catalytic upgrading;
- catalytic upgrading of bio-oils and pyrolysis vapours;
- catalytic treatment of industrial wastewater and gaseous emissions.
Scope and evidence boundary
The review supports technology orientation, identification of relevant catalytic routes, preliminary comparison of benefits and limitations, formulation of development questions and planning of more focused literature, laboratory or pilot studies.
Application to a specific waste stream requires verified feedstock composition, catalyst and support selection, kinetic and equilibrium data, transport and hydrodynamic analysis, catalyst deactivation and regeneration studies, product and contaminant analysis, material and energy balances, separation design, process-safety review and representative pilot validation.
Claims concerning lower emissions, reduced energy demand, circularity or economic viability should be evaluated against a clearly defined reference process and complete system boundary rather than inferred from catalytic activity alone.
Full text
The open preprint and deposited files are available through the Zenodo record: access the Zenodo record and files .
License
The deposited work is identified as available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence .
Recommended citation
Saylam, A. (2025). Catalytic Technologies for Waste Recycling and Conversion: Driving Sustainable Innovation. Version v1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19769294