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Chemical recycling turns silicone waste into reusable building blocks with up to 99% yield
Silicones are widely used in industry, medicine and everyday products due to their exceptional thermal and chemical stability. However, it is precisely these properties that have made recycling silicones extremely problematic in the past.
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Researchers at TU Berlin’s Institute of Chemistry have developed a method to break down silicone polymers into dimethyldichlorosilane, a reusable building block for new silicone products. The process relies on multiple chemical reaction cycles and has been tested on various everyday silicone items. The team, led by Dr. Martin Oestreich, has applied for a patent and the findings were fast‑tracked for online publication in Nature. Oestreich also serves on the UniSysCat Cluster of Excellence in catalysis at TU Berlin.
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