Recycling of Polyesters by Organocatalyzed Methanolysis Depolymerization: Environmental Sustainability Evaluated by Life Cycle Assessment

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most common plastics and can be cascaded mechanically during its life cycle. However, recycling affects the mechanical properties of the material, and the virgin material is constantly in demand. If a worn material could be depolymerized to its chemical...

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Published inACS sustainable chemistry & engineering Vol. 12; no. 10; pp. 4114 - 4120
Main Authors Muangmeesri, Suthawan, Baddigam, Kiran Reddy, Navare, Kranti, Apostolopoulou-Kalkavoura, Varvara, Witthayolankowit, Kuntawit, Håkansson, Helena, Mathew, Aji P., Acker, Karel Van, Samec, Joseph S. M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Chemical Society 11.03.2024
Subjects
Chemical Engineering
environmental sustainability
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Kemiteknik
life cycle assessment
PET depolymerization
polycotton
textile recycling
environmental sustainability
textile recycling
PET depolymerization
polycotton
life cycle assessment
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Summary:Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most common plastics and can be cascaded mechanically during its life cycle. However, recycling affects the mechanical properties of the material, and the virgin material is constantly in demand. If a worn material could be depolymerized to its chemical building blocks, then a virgin polymer could be generated from old fibers. In this work, we have developed a benign organo-catalytic depolymerization of PET to yield dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and ethylene glycol (EG) without the need for purification of generated monomers. By recirculating the solvent and organo-catalyst, a solvent/substrate ratio of 3:1 was achieved. The depolymerization was successfully applied to other polyesters, polycarbonates, and polycotton. The cotton isolated from the polycotton depolymerization was successfully processed into viscose fibers with a tenacity in the range of nonwaste cotton-derived viscose filaments. The global warming potential (GWP) of PET depolymerization was evaluated by using life cycle assessment (LCA). The GWP of 1 kg PET recycling is 2.206 kg CO2 equivalent, but the process produces DMT, EG, and heat, thereby avoiding the emissions equivalent to 4.075 kg CO2 equivalent from the DMT, EG, and steam-energy production through conventional pathways. Thus, the net result potentially avoids the emission of 1.88 kg of CO2 equivalent. The impact of this process is lower than that of waste PET incineration and conventional PET recycling technologies.
ISSN:2168-0485
2168-0485
DOI:10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c07435