Depolymerization is a very common process. Digestion of food involves depolymerization of macromolecules, such as
proteins. It is relevant to
polymer recycling. Sometimes the depolymerization is well behaved, and clean monomers can be reclaimed and reused for making new
plastic. In other cases, such as polyethylene, depolymerization gives a mixture of products. These products are, for polyethylene,
ethylene,
propylene,
isobutylene,
1-hexene and
heptane. Out of these, only ethylene can be used for polyethylene production, so other gases must be turned into ethylene, sold, or otherwise be destroyed or be disposed of by turning them into other products. Depolymerization is also related to production of chemicals and fuels from
biomass. In this case, reagents are typically required. A simple case is the hydrolysis of
celluloses to
glucose by the action of water. Generally this process requires an
acid catalyst: :H(C6H10O5)nOH + (n − 1) H2O → n C6H12O6 ==See also==