Facile synthesis of precious metal-free Ti-Cu nano-catalyst for enhanced hydrogen and liquid fuels production from in-situ pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming reaction of polystyrene waste dissolved in phenol

In-situ pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming reaction of polystyrene waste (PSW) liquefied in phenol can generate hydrogen from phenol and valuable liquid fuel from the PSW and thus has been studied recently. However, due to the complexity of phenol compounds and plastic waste, this reaction suffers from high energy consumption and coking. Herein, Ti, 4Ti3Cu and 3Ti3Cu nano-catalysts were facilitatively prepared using hydrothermal and impregnation methods and the physical and chemical properties of the fresh and used samples were deeply characterized. The experimental results show that almost complete phenol conversion with 97.90% H2 yield was achieved at 800 oC using 3Ti3Cu nano-catalyst. The catalytic pyrolysis products were ethylamine, tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and benzene (1,1-dimethylethoxy) (BDE). The correspondence of the preparation, morphology and catalytic activity in this research elucidates the synthesis of anti-coking and stable nano-catalysts for in-situ pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming reaction. [Display omitted] •Cost-effective precious metal-free Ti-Cu nano-catalysts were synthesized.•Hydrogen and liquid production from polystyrene dissolved in phenol was studied.•3Ti3Cu catalyst was highly active due to its basicity and reducibility features.•The liquid products were ethylamine, tert-butyl hydroperoxide and BDE.