As customer-driven demand for sustainable solutions increases, so does the clamor for more efficient post-consumer plastic recycling methods. While recycling reactor conditions can be explored experimentally, it is advantageous to employ in silico methods. This Comment focuses on detailed mechanistic approaches for modeling the depolymerization of plastics, the current state of this field and the directions it should take.
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We are grateful for the financial support of The Dow Chemical Company.
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Nature Chemical Engineering thanks Yin-Ning Zhou and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Best, A.K., Raghu, A.K., Majumdar, P. et al. Modeling the depolymerization of plastics. Nat Chem Eng 2, 8–10 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-024-00168-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-024-00168-5