Recent Advances in Polymer Degradation and Recycling
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Circular and Green Sustainable Polymer Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 1346
Special Issue Editor
Interests: catalytic reaction; polymer recycling; biochemical engineering; process design using ASPEN
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The accelerating transition toward a circular polymer economy has created an urgent need for advanced scientific and technological solutions that enable efficient, selective, and sustainable recycling of diverse plastic materials. Modern polymer waste streams, including engineered plastics, composite systems, elastomers, and bio-based polymers, pose challenges that extend beyond the capabilities of conventional mechanical recycling. This Special Issue, titled “Recent Advances in Polymer Degradation and Recycling,” aims to present cutting-edge research that deepens mechanistic understanding while advancing practical recycling strategies.
We invite contributions focused on thermal, catalytic, hydrolytic, enzymatic, oxidative, and photochemical degradation pathways, as well as innovative chemical recycling technologies such as depolymerization, solvent-assisted processes, and reactive extrusion. Research on catalyst development, reaction engineering, product selectivity, and monomer recovery efficiency is particularly welcome. Studies integrating computational tools such as machine learning, multiscale simulation, and kinetic modeling to accelerate process optimization and materials design are strongly encouraged.
By bringing together interdisciplinary work from polymer chemistry, materials science, reaction engineering, and environmental science, this Special Issue seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art advances and future directions in polymer degradation and recycling. Advanced analytical and characterization techniques for upcycling polymers are preferred. Our goal is to promote fundamental insights and applied innovations that support scalable recycling solutions and sustainable polymer value chains.
This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that address:
- Fundamental mechanisms of polymer degradation (thermal, catalytic, hydrolytic, oxidative, enzymatic, photochemical).
- Chemical recycling and depolymerization of polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes, polyolefins, elastomers, and bio-based polymers.
- Novel depolymerization technologies, including solvent-assisted recycling, microwave/plasma-assisted degradation, and reactive extrusion.
- Catalyst development, reaction engineering, selective chain scission, and energy-efficient process design.
- Kinetic modeling, multiscale simulation, machine-learning-assisted reaction prediction, and data-driven process optimization.
- Advanced analytical and characterization techniques for degradation intermediates and products.
- Upcycling pathways converting waste polymers into high-value chemicals, fuels, monomers, or functional materials.
- Sustainability assessments, circular economy models, and industrial case studies for scalable polymer recycling.
Prof. Dr. Ho-Shing Wu
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- polymer degradation
- polymer recycling
- chemical recycling
- depolymerization
- catalytic degradation
- hydrolysis
- glycolysis
- enzymatic depolymerization
- thermal degradation
- photodegradation
- reaction kinetics
- mechanistic modeling
- waste polymer valorization
- upcycling
- circular polymer economy
- advanced characterization
- bio-based polymers
- mixed-plastic waste
- process intensification
- sustainable materials engineering
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