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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until May 31, 2024

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Chemical Recycling of Blend and Copolymer of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene 2,5-Furandicarboxylate (PEF) Using Alkaline Hydrolysis and Glycolysis.

Alsheekh, Ruqayah
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1673570530434185

Abstract Details

2023, Master of Science, University of Toledo, Chemical Engineering.
In this work, the impact of the co-monomer, furan dicarboxylate (FDCA), on depolymerization of poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was investigated. Specifically, glycolysis and alkaline hydrolysis were used to depolymerize the following polyesters: (i) PET, (ii) polyethylene furonate (PEF), (iii) a copolymer with 10 % FDCA and 90 % TPA (PETF10-I) and (iv) a melt blend of 10 % PEF and 90 % PET (PETF10-B). The alkaline hydrolysis kinetics were studied at 110 oC in 1.1 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution [45, 46, 65]. Glycolysis kinetics were studied at 180 oC in ethylene glycol (EG) with a zinc acetate catalyst [31, 47, 66]. Both reactions occur at the surface of the polyester flakes so that surface wetting by the solution, surface area of flakes, and backbone structure of the polymer are important in determining reaction kinetics. In addition, this work showed that the polyester configuration played a role in depolymerization kinetics for the PET/PEF mixed systems. The PEF exhibited much faster rates of depolymerization for both hydrolysis and glycolysis than pure PET, which was attributed to the presence of five member rings that are more labile than benzene ring. The inclusion FDCA based polyesters as a co-polymer or blend resulted in increases in depolymerization rates relative to the PET. The blend exhibited faster rates of kinetics than the co-polyester indicating that the configuration or macrostructure was important in determining depolymerization kinetics. The more rapid kinetics of the blends was attributed to a combination of (i) improved surface wetting by the reaction media and (ii) high degradation rates for PEF in blends which generated small pits in surface and increased surface area. The hydrolysis product for both the blend and co-polymers of PETF10 contained FDCA and TPA. However, high purity of BHET was recovered from the reaction mixture with only traces of BHEF following glycolysis of the blends and co-polyester. While it was difficult to recover the highly soluble BHEF using crystallization from ethylene glycol/water mixtures, this approach did allow recovery of relatively high purity BHET.
Maria Coleman (Committee Chair)
Joseph Lawrence (Committee Member)
Dong -Shik Kim (Committee Member)
151 p.
Chemical Engineering
Alkaline Hydrolysis, Glycolysis, Copolyesters, Polymer Blends, Poly (ethylene terephthalate), Poly (ethylene Furanoat).

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Alsheekh, R. (2023). Chemical Recycling of Blend and Copolymer of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene 2,5-Furandicarboxylate (PEF) Using Alkaline Hydrolysis and Glycolysis. [Master's thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1673570530434185

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Alsheekh, Ruqayah. Chemical Recycling of Blend and Copolymer of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene 2,5-Furandicarboxylate (PEF) Using Alkaline Hydrolysis and Glycolysis. 2023. University of Toledo, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1673570530434185.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Alsheekh, Ruqayah. "Chemical Recycling of Blend and Copolymer of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene 2,5-Furandicarboxylate (PEF) Using Alkaline Hydrolysis and Glycolysis." Master's thesis, University of Toledo, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1673570530434185

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

toledo1673570530434185
© 2023, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Chemical Recycling of Blend and Copolymer of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyethylene 2,5-Furandicarboxylate (PEF) Using Alkaline Hydrolysis and Glycolysis. by Ruqayah Alsheekh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo and OhioLINK.