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Qin L, Li X, Ren G, Yuan R, Wang X, Hu Z, Ye C, Zou Y, Ding P, Zhang H, Cai Q. Closed-Loop Polymer-to-Polymer Upcycling of Waste Poly (Ethylene Terephthalate) into Biodegradable and Programmable Materials. CHEMSUSCHEM 2024; 17:e202301781. [PMID: 38409634 DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202301781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), extensively employed in bottles, film, and fiber manufacture, has generated persistent environmental contamination due to its non-degradable nature. The resolution of this issue requires the conversion of waste PET into valuable products, often achieved through depolymerization into monomers. However, the laborious purification procedures involved in the extraction of monomers pose challenges and constraints on the complete utilization of PET. Herein, a strategy is demonstrated for the polymer-to-polymer upcycling of waste PET into high-value biodegradable and programmable materials named PEXT. This process involves reversible transesterifications dependent on ester bonds, wherein commercially available X-monomers from aliphatic diacids and diols are introduced, utilizing existing industrial equipment for complete PET utilization. PEXT features a programmable molecular structure, delivering tailored mechanical, thermal, and biodegradation performance. Notably, PEXT exhibits superior mechanical performance, with a maximal elongation at break of 3419.2 % and a toughness of 270.79 MJ m-3. These characteristics make PEXT suitable for numerous applications, including shape-memory materials, transparent films, and fracture-resistant stretchable components. Significantly, PEXT allows closed-loop recycling within specific biodegradable analogs by reprograming PET or X-monomers. This strategy not only offers cost-effective advantages in large-scale upcycling of waste PET into advanced materials but also demonstrates its enormous prospect in environmental conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidong Qin
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, China
| | - Xiaoxu Li
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, China
| | - Geng Ren
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Rongyan Yuan
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Xinyu Wang
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Zexu Hu
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Chenwu Ye
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Yangyang Zou
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Peiqing Ding
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
| | - Hongjie Zhang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Qiuquan Cai
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515031, China
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Jung H, Shin G, Kwak H, Hao LT, Jegal J, Kim HJ, Jeon H, Park J, Oh DX. Review of polymer technologies for improving the recycling and upcycling efficiency of plastic waste. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 320:138089. [PMID: 36754297 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Human society has become increasingly reliant on plastic because it allows for convenient and sanitary living. However, recycling rates are currently low, which means that the majority of plastic waste ends up in landfills or the ocean. Increasing recycling and upcycling rates is a critical strategy for addressing the issues caused by plastic pollution, but there are several technical limitations to overcome. This article reviews advancements in polymer technology that aim to improve the efficiency of recycling and upcycling plastic waste. In food packaging, natural polymers with excellent gas barrier properties and self-cleaning abilities have been introduced as environmentally friendly alternatives to existing materials and to reduce food-derived contamination. Upcycling and valorization approaches have emerged to transform plastic waste into high-value-added products. Recent advancements in the development of recyclable high-performance plastics include the design of super engineering thermoplastics and engineering chemical bonds of thermosets to make them recyclable and biodegradable. Further research is needed to develop more cost-effective and scalable technologies to address the plastic pollution problem through sustainable recycling and upcycling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyuni Jung
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea
| | - Giyoung Shin
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea
| | - Hojung Kwak
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea
| | - Lam Tan Hao
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea; Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea
| | - Jonggeon Jegal
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyo Jeong Kim
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyeonyeol Jeon
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea; Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jeyoung Park
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, 04107, Republic of Korea.
| | - Dongyeop X Oh
- Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea; Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea.
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Kulkarni A, Quintens G, Pitet LM. Trends in Polyester Upcycling for Diversifying a Problematic Waste Stream. Macromolecules 2023. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c02054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Amruta Kulkarni
- Advanced Functional Polymers (AFP) Laboratory, Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Greg Quintens
- Advanced Functional Polymers (AFP) Laboratory, Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Louis M. Pitet
- Advanced Functional Polymers (AFP) Laboratory, Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
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4
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Integrated Approach to Eco-Friendly Thermoplastic Composites Based on Chemically Recycled PET Co-Polymers Reinforced with Treated Banana Fibres. Polymers (Basel) 2022; 14:polym14224791. [PMID: 36432919 PMCID: PMC9693550 DOI: 10.3390/polym14224791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A major societal issue of disposal and environmental pollution is raised by the enormous and fast-growing production of single-use polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, especially in developing countries. To contribute to the problem solution, an original route to recycle PET in the form of value-added environmentally friendly thermoplastic composites with banana fibres (Musa acuminata) has been developed at the laboratory scale. Banana fibres are a so far undervalued by-product of banana crops with great potential as polymer reinforcement. The melt-processing constraints of commercial PET, including used bottles, being incompatible with the thermal stability limits use of natural fibres; PET has been modified with bio-sourced reactants to produce co-polymers with moderate processing temperatures below 200 °C. First, commercial PET were partially glycolyzed with 1.3-propanediol to produce co-oligomers of about 20 repeating units, which were next chain extended with succinic anhydride and post-treated in a very unusual "soft solid state" process at temperatures in the vicinity of the melting point to generate co-polymers with excellent ductility. The molar mass build-up reaction is dominated by esterification of the chain ends and benefits from the addition of succinic anhydride to rebalance the acid-to-hydroxyl end-group ratio. Infra-red spectroscopy and intrinsic viscosity were extensively used to quantify the concentration of chain ends and the average molar mass of the co-polymers at all stages of the process. The best co-polymers are crystallisable, though at slow kinetics, with a Tg of 48 °C and a melting point strongly dependent upon thermal history. The composites show high stiffness (4.8 GPa at 20% fibres), consistent with the excellent dispersion of the fibres and a very high interfacial cohesion. The strong adhesion can be tentatively explained by covalent bonding involving unreacted succinic anhydride in excess during solid stating. A first approach to quantify the sustainable benefits of this PET recycling route, based on a rational eco-selection method, gives promising results since the composites come close to low-end wood materials in terms of the stiffness/embodied energy balance. Moreover, this approach can easily be extended to many other natural fibres. The present study is limited to a proof of concept at the laboratory scale but is encouraging enough to warrant a follow-up study toward scale-up and application development.
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Ranganathan P, Chen CW, Chou YL, Rwei SP, Ramaraj SK. Biomass chemical upcycling of waste rPET for the fabrication of formamide-free TPEE microcellular foams via scCO2 foaming. J CO2 UTIL 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcou.2022.102199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
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Wu Y, Ma G, Zhang A, Gu W, Wei J, Wang R. Preparation of Carbon Dots with Ultrahigh Fluorescence Quantum Yield Based on PET Waste. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:38037-38044. [PMID: 36312408 PMCID: PMC9609083 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c05324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Environmentally friendly polyethylene terephthalate-based carbon dots (PET-CDs) with ultrahigh fluorescence quantum yield were prepared with waste PET textiles as raw materials. First, oligomers were prepared from the reaction of waste PET textile and ethylene glycol by the microwave method. Then, the mixture without isolation and purification as well as pyromellitic acid and urea were adopted as precursors for the preparation of PET-CDs by the hydrothermal method. It was found that the as-prepared PET-CDs had a spherical structure with an average particle size of 2.8 nm. The carbon core of PET-CDs was a graphene-like structure doped with nitrogen atoms in the form of pyrrole nitrogen and the surface contained -NH2, which is convenient for modification and functionalization with various materials in the form of chemical bonds. The as-prepared PET-CDs exhibit excitation-independent emission properties in the range from 340 to 440 nm, and the best excitation and emission wavelengths of PET-CDs are 406 and 485 nm, respectively, while the fluorescence quantum yield is 97.3%. In terms of the application, the as-prepared PET-CDs could be adopted as a fluorescence probe for the detection of Fe3+, and the limit of detection is as low as 0.2 μmol/L. The mechanism of PET-CDs by Fe3+ was found to be the static quenching mechanism. In addition, PET-CDs can be used in LEDs and fluorescent anticounterfeiting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuhang Wu
- School
of Materials Design and Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Guocong Ma
- School
of Materials Design and Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Anying Zhang
- School
of Materials Design and Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- School
of Material Science and Engineering, Tiangong
University, No. 399 BinShuiXi Road, Xiqing District, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Weiwen Gu
- School
of Materials Design and Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Jianfei Wei
- School
of Materials Design and Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Beijing
Key Laboratory of Clothing Materials R&D and Assessment, Beijing
Engineering Research Center of Textile Nano Fiber, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Rui Wang
- School
of Materials Design and Engineering, Beijing
Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Beijing
Key Laboratory of Clothing Materials R&D and Assessment, Beijing
Engineering Research Center of Textile Nano Fiber, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing 100029, China
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High-value copolyamide 6 materials with colorless transparent and low water absorption upgraded from upcycled and biomass comonomers. POLYMER 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2022.125269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Ronkay F, Molnár B, Szabó E, Marosi G, Bocz K. Water boosts reactive toughening of PET. Polym Degrad Stab 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2022.110052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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9
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Zhou H, Wang Y, Ren Y, Li Z, Kong X, Shao M, Duan H. Plastic Waste Valorization by Leveraging Multidisciplinary Catalytic Technologies. ACS Catal 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.2c02775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hua Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
| | - Ye Wang
- Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Yue Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Zhenhua Li
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Xianggui Kong
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Mingfei Shao
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Haohong Duan
- Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
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Karanastasis A, Safin V, Damodaran S, Pitet LM. Utility of Chemical Upcycling in Transforming Postconsumer PET to PBT-Based Thermoplastic Copolyesters Containing a Renewable Fatty-Acid-Derived Soft Block. ACS POLYMERS AU 2022; 2:351-360. [PMID: 36855581 PMCID: PMC9955273 DOI: 10.1021/acspolymersau.2c00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Thermoplastic copolyesters (TPCs) are important structural components in countless high performance applications that require excellent thermal stability and outstanding mechanical integrity. Segmented multiblock architectures are often employed for the most demanding applications, in which semicrystalline segments of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) are combined with various low T g soft blocks. These segmented copolymers are nearly always synthesized from pristine feedstocks that are derived from fossil-fuel sources. In this work, we show a straightforward, one-pot synthetic approach to prepare TPCs starting from high-molar mass poly(ethylene terephthalate) recyclate (rPET) combined with a hydrophobic fatty acid dimer diol flexible segment. Transesterification is exploited to create a multiblock architecture. The high molar mass and segment distribution are elucidated by detailed size-exclusion chromatography and proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It is also shown that rPET can be chemically converted to PBT through a molecular exchange, in which the ethylene glycol is substituted by introducing 1,4-butane diol. A series of copolymers with various compositions was prepared with either PET or PBT segments and the final thermal properties and mechanical performance is compared between the two different constructs. Ultimately, PBT-based TPCs crystallize faster and exhibit a higher modulus over the range of explored compositions, making them ideal for applications that require injection molding. This represents an ideal, sustainable approach to making conventional TPCs, utilizing recyclate and biobased components to produce high performance polymer constructs via an easily accessible upcycling route.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apostolos
A. Karanastasis
- Advanced
Functional Polymers (AFP) Laboratory, Institute for Materials Research
(IMO), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Victoria Safin
- Advanced
Functional Polymers (AFP) Laboratory, Institute for Materials Research
(IMO), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Subin Damodaran
- Tosoh
Bioscience, GmbH, Im Leuschnerpark 4, 64347 Griesheim, Germany
| | - Louis M. Pitet
- Advanced
Functional Polymers (AFP) Laboratory, Institute for Materials Research
(IMO), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium,. Tel.: +32 11 26 83 20
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