ABSTRACT
Addressing the environmental impact of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) disposal highlights the need for efficient recycling methods. Chemical recycling, specifically alkaline hydrolysis, presents a promising avenue for PET waste management by depolymerizing PET into its constituent monomers. This study focuses on optimizing the pressurized alkaline hydrolysis process for post-consumer PET residues obtained from packaging materials. Post-consumer PET packaging waste was chemically recycled by means of an alkaline hydrolysis reaction in a 2 L pressurized reactor under varying conditions of the NaOH/PET ratio and temperature. The reaction's progress was monitored by sampling the liquid phase hourly over a four-hour period. The obtained products were purified, with a focus on isolating terephthalic acid (TPA). Higher temperatures (150 °C) resulted in superior TPA yields (>95%) compared to lower temperatures (120 °C). The NaOH/PET ratio showed minimal influence on the TPA yield. The optimal conditions (T = 150 °C; NaOH:PET = 2) were identified based on TPA yield and reaction cost considerations. This study demonstrates the feasibility of pressurized alkaline hydrolysis for PET recycling, with optimized conditions yielding high TPA purity and efficiency.
ABSTRACT
This work addresses a novel bio-solvolysis process for the treatment of complex poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste using a biobased monoethylene glycol (BioMEG) as a depolymerization agent in order to achieve a more sustainable chemical recycling process. Five difficult-to-recycle PET waste streams, including multilayer trays, coloured bottles and postconsumer textiles, were selected for the study. After characterization and conditioning of the samples, an evaluation of the proposed bio-solvolysis process was carried out by monitoring the reaction over time to determine the degree of PET conversion (91.3-97.1%) and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) monomer yield (71.5-76.3%). A monomer purification process, using activated carbon (AC), was also developed to remove the colour and to reduce the metal content of the solid. By applying this purification strategy, the whiteness (L*) of the BHET greatly increased from around 60 to over 95 (L* = 100 for pure white) and the Zn content was significantly reduced from around 200 to 2 mg/kg. The chemical structure of the purified monomers was analyzed via infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the composition of the samples was measured by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), proving a high purity of the monomers with a BHET content up to 99.5% in mol.
ABSTRACT
The chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) -PET- fractions, derived from actual household packaging waste streams, using solvolysis, was investigated. This recycling strategy was applied after a previous on-line automatic identification, by near-infrared spectroscopy -NIR-, and a subsequent selective sorting of the different PET materials that were present in the packaging wastes. Using this technology, it was possible to classify fractions exclusively including PET, virtually avoiding the presence of both other plastics and materials, such as paper, cardboard and wood, that are present in the packaging wastes, as they were efficiently recognised and differentiated. The simple PET fractions, including clear and monolayered materials, were adequate to be recycled by mechanical means meanwhile the complex PET fractions, containing highly coloured and multi-layered materials, were suitable candidates to be recycled by chemical routes. The depolymerisation capacity of the catalytic glycolysis, when applied to those complex PET wastes, was studied by evaluating the effect of the process parameters on the resulting formation and recovery of the monomer bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate -BHET- and the achieved quality of this reaction product. Comparable and reasonable results, in terms of monomer yield and its characteristics, were obtained independently of the type of complex PET waste that was chemically recycled.
ABSTRACT
In this work, the low-temperature pyrolysis of a real plastic mixture sample collected at a WEEE-authorised recycling facility has been investigated. The sample was pyrolysed in a batch reactor in different temperature and residence time conditions and auto-generated pressure by following a factorial design, with the objective of maximising the liquid (oil) fraction. Furthermore, the main polymers constituting the real sample were also pyrolysed in order to understand their role in the generation of oil. The pyrolysis oils were characterised and compared with commercial fuel oil number 6. The results showed that in comparison to commercial fuel oil, pyrolysis oils coming from WEEE plastic waste had similar heating values, were lighter and less viscous and presented similar toxicity profiles in fumes of combustion.
