Recent Developments in the Chemical Recycling of Postconsumer Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Waste

George, Neena; Kurian, Thomas

doi:10.1021/ie501995m

Cited by 289 publications

(255 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Recycling of PET through depolymerization has been extensively studied and reviewed due to the large volumes of PET bottles, which are creating a fast-growing waste problem (Al-Sabagh et al 2016;Chen et al 2011;Dutt and Soni 2013;George and Kurian 2014;Geyer et al 2016;Paliwal and Mungray 2013;Sinha et al 2010). There are three main chemical degradation methods for PET; hydrolysis (acid, neutral, or alkaline), alcoholysis (Oakley et al 1993), and glycolysis (Viana et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an efficient route for combined recycling of PET and cotton from mixed fabrics

et al. 2017

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Most textile waste is either incinerated or landfilled today, yet, the material could instead be recycled through chemical recycling to new high-quality textiles. A first important step is separation since chemical recycling of textiles requires pure streams. The focus of this paper is on the separation of cotton and PET (poly(ethylene terephthalate), polyester) from mixed textiles, so called polycotton. Polycotton is one of the most common materials in service textiles used in sheets and towels at hospitals and hotels. A straightforward process using 5-15 wt% NaOH in water and temperature in the range between 70 and 90°C for the hydrolysis of PET was evaluated on the lab-scale. In the process, the PET was degraded to terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Three product streams were generated from the process. First is the cotton; second, the TPA; and, third, the filtrate containing EG and the process chemicals. The end products and the extent of PET degradation were characterized using light microscopy, UV-spectroscopy, and ATR FT-IR spectroscopy, as well as solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the cotton cellulose degradation was evaluated by analyzing the intrinsic viscosity of the cotton cellulose. The findings show that with the addition of a phase transfer catalyst (benzyltributylammonium chloride (BTBAC)), PET hydrolysis in 10% NaOH solution at 90°C can be completed within 40 min. Analysis of the degraded PET with NMR spectroscopy showed that no contaminants remained in the recovered TPA, and that the filtrate mainly contained EG and BTBAC (when added). The yield of the cotton cellulose was high, up to 97%, depending on how long the samples were treated. The findings also showed that the separation can be performed without the phase transfer catalyst; however, this requires longer treatment times, which results in more cellulose degradation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an efficient route for combined recycling of PET and cotton from mixed fabrics

et al. 2017

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“…It has good tensile strength, chemical resistance, and suitable thermal stability. Huge quantities of PET are used in the production of food packaging materials and water bottles [9,10]. With the enormous development and usage of PET, a large fraction of PET gets added to the waste system on a yearly basis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although PET is not hazardous, many factors contribute to the accumulation of PET in the environment and this necessitates serious attention to recycling as the accumulation has become a global environmental issue [2,13,14]. The recycling of PET through chemical methods [10,[15][16][17][18], especially depolymerization or lysis of PET using 2 International Journal of Chemical Engineering solvents and ionic liquids, has gained considerable interest as it can help in the synthesis of different kinds of end products. Depolymerization of PET can be achieved by hydrolysis using water [19] or lysis using alcohol [20] (methanolysis using methanol) [21,22] or amines [23] or acids [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reactive Extrusion of Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste and Investigation of Its Thermal and Mechanical Properties after Treatment

Mohsin

Abdulrehman

Haik

2017

International Journal of Chemical Engineering

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This study investigates treating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste water bottles with different mass of ethylene glycol (EG) using reactive extrusion technique at a temperature of 260 ∘ C. The study puts emphases on evaluating the thermal, mechanical, and chemical characteristics of the treated polyethylene terephthalate. The properties of the treated PET from the extruder were analyzed using FT-IR, TGA, DSC, and nanoindentation. The melt flow indexes (MFI) of both treated and untreated PET were also measured and compared. Thermal properties such as melting temperature ( ) for treating PET showed an inversely proportional behavior with the EG concentrations. The FT-IR analysis was used to investigate the formation of new linkages like hydrogen bonds between PET and EG due to the hydroxyl and carbonyl groups. Nanoindentation results revealed that both the mechanical characteristics, elastic modulus and hardness, decrease with increasing EG concentration. On the other hand, the melt flow index of treated PET exhibited an increase with increasing EG concentration in the PET matrix.

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“…Chemical recycling involves the partial or total depolymerization of PET into its components (monomers, oligomers and other chemicals), following the rules of “sustainable development“ . Common depolymerization routes employed for chemical recycling of PET are methanolysis, hydrolysis, glycolysis, aminolysis, ammonolysis and hydrogenation, among others . Glycolysis of PET to BHET monomer (bis(2‐hydroxyethyl) terephthalate) is typically done employing a glycol (i. e., ethylene glycol, EG), high temperatures and a transesterification catalyst .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Oxalate‐Bridged Binuclear Iron(III) Ionic Liquid for the Highly Efficient Glycolysis of Polyethylene Terephthalate under Microwave Irradiation

et al. 2019

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An oxalate‐bridged binuclear iron(III) ionic liquid combined with an imidazolium based cation, (dimim)2[Fe2Cl4(μ‐ox)], was synthesized and characterized by a wide range of techniques. This halometallate ionic liquid was active in catalyzing the depolymerization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by glycolysis, under conventional and microwave‐assisted heating conditions. Both methodologies were very selective towards the production of bis(2‐hydroxyethyl)terephthalate (BHET). The employment of microwave heating proved beneficial in terms of time and energy saving when compared to the use of thermal heating. Indeed, dielectric spectroscopy studies revealed that the binuclear iron‐containing ionic liquid exhibits an excellent heating response under an electromagnetic field. The catalyst provided quantitative conversions to BHET in the glycolysis of post‐consumer PET bottles in only 3 h through microwave heating, as compared to 80 % conversion after 24 h under conventional heating.

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Recent Developments in the Chemical Recycling of Postconsumer Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Waste

Cited by 289 publications

References 82 publications

Development of an efficient route for combined recycling of PET and cotton from mixed fabrics

Development of an efficient route for combined recycling of PET and cotton from mixed fabrics

Reactive Extrusion of Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste and Investigation of Its Thermal and Mechanical Properties after Treatment

An Oxalate‐Bridged Binuclear Iron(III) Ionic Liquid for the Highly Efficient Glycolysis of Polyethylene Terephthalate under Microwave Irradiation

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