Chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) waste using ethanolamine. Sorting of the end products

There is a growing keen interest aimed at recycling post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, wastes for both environmental and economic reasons. In this study ethanolamine (EA) has been investigated for aminolytic degradation of PET waste in the presence of dibutyl tin oxide (DBTO) as a catalyst. The process proceeds at 190 °C and under atmospheric pressure. The yield of white precipitate was subject to spectroscopic measurements (FT-IR, NMR, XRD and MS), to thermal analyses (DSC, DTA and TG) and to chemical testing (elemental analysis and solubility characterization).Based on the data reached from various examinations, the product formed is identified as bis(2-hydroxyethylene) terephthalamide (BHETA) which could be consider a source for differing polyurethanes. These kinds of materials have potential for many applications such as adhesives and coatings.