The selective recycling of mixed plastic waste of polylactic acid and polyethylene terephthalate by control of process conditions

Carné Sánchez , Arnau and Collinson, Simon R. (2011). The selective recycling of mixed plastic waste of polylactic acid and polyethylene terephthalate by control of process conditions. European Polymer Journal, 47(10) pp. 1970–1976.

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DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2011.07.013

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Abstract

The glycolysis of postconsumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste was evaluated with catalysts of zinc acetate, zinc stearate and zinc sulfate, showing that zinc acetate was the most soluble and effective. The chemical recycling by solvolysis of polylactic acid (PLA) and PET waste in either methanol or ethanol was investigated. Zinc acetate as a catalyst was found to be necessary to yield an effective depolymerization of waste PLA giving lactate esters, while with the same reaction conditions PET remains as an unconverted solid. This provides a strategy to selectively recycle mixed plastic waste by converting one plastic to a liquid and recovering the unreacted solid plastic by filtration.

Item Type:

Journal Article

2011 Elsevier Ltd

ISSN:

1873-1945

External Project Funding Details:

Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
Not Set	Not Set	Chartered Institute of Wastes Management (CIWM)
Not Set	Not Set	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Extra Information:

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in European Polymer Journal. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in European Polymer Journal 47(10) 2011 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2011.07.013

Keywords:

polyethylene terephthalate; polylactic acid; recycling; catalyst, glycolysis; mixed plastic waste

Academic Unit/Department:

Science > Life, Health and Chemical Sciences

Interdisciplinary Research Centre:

Biomedical Research Network (BRN)

Item ID:

31292

Depositing User:

Simon Collinson

Date Deposited:

20 Jan 2012 10:43