Catalytic Process for Selective Polyolefin Hydrogenolysis

What is disclosed herein is a method for depolymerizing polyolefins, comprising preparing a cobalt catalyst; combining the cobalt catalyst with a sample comprising polyolefins in a reaction vessel in the presence of H2 gas to produce a mixture, wherein the polyolefin comprises a carbon chain having the structure (CH2CHR)n wherein R is an alkyl group and n is an integer greater than 20; reacting the mixture under conditions effective to depolymerize the polyolefins to produce decomposition products, wherein the decomposition products comprise the structure (CH2CHR)m wherein m is an integer much less than n.