Simple and convenient method of chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by using microwave radiation

Microwave assisted ester bond breaking of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to terephthalic acid (TPA) was performed by using glycerin, diethylene glycol (DEG) or monoethanolamine (MEA) as transesterification reagents and KOH or NaOH as the catalysts and results were compared with PET degradation by conventional heating method. Comparisons of reaction times showed significant enhancement of reaction rates in the microwave assisted experiments in comparison with the process going with use of conventional heating. In addition, collected data cleared the intense dependence of the recycled TPA recover on the catalyst concentration and the minimum time observed for 1.3 mol L-1 of KOH and 1.9 mol L-1 of NaOH, respectively.