Towards efficient low-temperature recycling of complex PET wastes

In our recent article published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, in collaboration with POLYMAT, the organocatalytic glycolysis of PET mediated by organocatalyst at low temperatures is studied, and routes to avoid the deactivation of the catalyst are explored. It is shown that the formation of terephthalic acid by uncontrolled hydrolysis leads to issues that can be resolved using an inorganic base as a co-catalyst.

The solvent-assisted depolymerization optimised in this study and performed on complex PET wastes allows to recover > 90% yield of the initial monomer in less than 15 min at only 100 °C. These results open the way to efficient recycling of PET-enriched waste streams under milder conditions.

Read the full article here.

For more information on the molecules we obtain from the chemical recycling of PET, click here.