Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods

Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is of crucial importance, since worldwide amounts of PETwaste increase rapidly due to its widespread applications. Hence, several methods have been developed, like energetic, material, thermo-mechanical and chemical recycling of PET. Most frequently, P...

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Main Authors: B. Geyer, G. Lorenz, A. Kandelbauer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Budapest University of Technology and Economics 2016-07-01
Series:eXPRESS Polymer Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0006898&mi=cd
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author B. Geyer
G. Lorenz
A. Kandelbauer
author_facet B. Geyer
G. Lorenz
A. Kandelbauer
author_sort B. Geyer
collection DOAJ
description Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is of crucial importance, since worldwide amounts of PETwaste increase rapidly due to its widespread applications. Hence, several methods have been developed, like energetic, material, thermo-mechanical and chemical recycling of PET. Most frequently, PET-waste is incinerated for energy recovery, used as additive in concrete composites or glycolysed to yield mixtures of monomers and undefined oligomers. While energetic and thermo-mechanical recycling entail downcycling of the material, chemical recycling requires considerable amounts of chemicals and demanding processing steps entailing toxic and ecological issues. This review provides a thorough survey of PET-recycling including energetic, material, thermo-mechanical and chemical methods. It focuses on chemical methods describing important reaction parameters and yields of obtained reaction products. While most methods yield monomers, only a few yield undefined low molecular weight oligomers for impaired applications (dispersants or plasticizers). Further, the present work presents an alternative chemical recycling method of PET in comparison to existing chemical methods.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1788-618X
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publishDate 2016-07-01
publisher Budapest University of Technology and Economics
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series eXPRESS Polymer Letters
spelling doaj-art-075f19f6cf4642f8aa32d0130b8872272025-08-20T03:33:14ZengBudapest University of Technology and EconomicseXPRESS Polymer Letters1788-618X2016-07-0110755958610.3144/expresspolymlett.2016.53Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methodsB. GeyerG. LorenzA. KandelbauerRecycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is of crucial importance, since worldwide amounts of PETwaste increase rapidly due to its widespread applications. Hence, several methods have been developed, like energetic, material, thermo-mechanical and chemical recycling of PET. Most frequently, PET-waste is incinerated for energy recovery, used as additive in concrete composites or glycolysed to yield mixtures of monomers and undefined oligomers. While energetic and thermo-mechanical recycling entail downcycling of the material, chemical recycling requires considerable amounts of chemicals and demanding processing steps entailing toxic and ecological issues. This review provides a thorough survey of PET-recycling including energetic, material, thermo-mechanical and chemical methods. It focuses on chemical methods describing important reaction parameters and yields of obtained reaction products. While most methods yield monomers, only a few yield undefined low molecular weight oligomers for impaired applications (dispersants or plasticizers). Further, the present work presents an alternative chemical recycling method of PET in comparison to existing chemical methods.http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0006898&mi=cdRecyclingPoly(ethylene terephthalate)DegradationMonomersOligomers
spellingShingle B. Geyer
G. Lorenz
A. Kandelbauer
Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
eXPRESS Polymer Letters
Recycling
Poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Degradation
Monomers
Oligomers
title Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
title_full Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
title_fullStr Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
title_full_unstemmed Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
title_short Recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) – A review focusing on chemical methods
title_sort recycling of poly ethylene terephthalate a review focusing on chemical methods
topic Recycling
Poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Degradation
Monomers
Oligomers
url http://www.expresspolymlett.com/letolt.php?file=EPL-0006898&mi=cd
work_keys_str_mv AT bgeyer recyclingofpolyethyleneterephthalateareviewfocusingonchemicalmethods
AT glorenz recyclingofpolyethyleneterephthalateareviewfocusingonchemicalmethods
AT akandelbauer recyclingofpolyethyleneterephthalateareviewfocusingonchemicalmethods