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Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received December 24, 2025
Accepted June 18, 2026
Available online November 25, 2026

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Application and Research Status of Microwave Technology in the Depolymerization Process of Polymer

Dejun Zou² Rui Wang^1† Fen Zhou¹ Zhe Li² Zhaohui Han^2† Lei Xu^2†

National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, School of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology ¹Sinopec Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Co. ²State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, School of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology

wangr.sshy@sinopec.com, hanzhaohui0314@163.com, xu_lei@kust.edu.cn

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, November 2026, 43(13), 3465-3482(18)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00778-0

Abstract

With the widespread application of polymer materials, research on their depolymerization has also advanced significantly.

For natural polymer materials, depolymerization enables the production of high-value chemicals and alternatives to fossil

fuels; for synthetic polymer materials, it facilitates resource recovery and circular reuse. Traditional depolymerization

methods (such as thermal cracking, hydrolysis, and alcoholysis) suffer from harsh reaction conditions, poor product controllability,

and high energy consumption. Microwave-assisted depolymerization, characterized by selective heating and

rapid reaction, is an efficient and energy-saving technology for polymer chemical recycling and high-value conversion.

This review summarizes the principles and advantages of microwave-assisted depolymerization technology, highlighting

recent progress in microwave depolymerization studies of natural polymers such as lignin, chitosan, starch, and cellulose,

as well as synthetic polymers including poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), polystyrene (PS), and polycarbonate (PC). The

review analyzes the catalytic mechanisms involved in microwave depolymerization, discusses the influence of reaction

conditions on depolymerization efficiency, and explores the challenges and future directions of this technology, providing

valuable insights for the research and resource utilization of polymer depolymerization.

Keywords

Polymer · Microwave · Depolymerization · Catalyst