Sustainable recovery of monomers from PET and PC waste via Thermocatalytic depolymerization for synthesis of polycarbonates and co-polycarbonates

Abstract

The increasing global demand for sustainable plastics recycling methods has propelled the research and development of innovative depolymerization processes. The Thermocatalytic depolymerization (TCDP) of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) has been performed at 200 ℃. Ethylene glycol (EG) is used as a reactant and as well a polymer bond-cleaving agent and Yttrium Oxide (Y₂O₃) is used as an effective catalyst. Y₂O₃ acted as a dual role during depolymerization reaction, which converts EG into cyclic ethylene oxide (CEO) and as well as to break the ester and carbonate bonds in the polymer structure of PET and PC respectively. The TCDP reaction conditions were optimized and the maximum quantity of Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) (80%) and (Bisphenol A (BPA)) (83%) has been recovered by TCDP reaction of PET and PC respectively. The polycarbonate and co-polycarbonate (Co-PC) were synthesized using recovered BPA and BHET with triphosgene via polycondensation reaction. The structure of monomers and polymers was confirmed by existing analytical (FTIR, NMR, XRD and GPC) techniques. The thermal properties of PC and Co-PC were performed by TG analysis. The TGA results reveal that the degradation temperature (T_d) of PC and Co-PC are observed at 420.5 and 442.8 °C respectively, which shows that the T_d of Co-PC has been increased by 22 ℃ than PC. The TCDP process is an effective method to recover specific value-added products from waste plastics, which could be made into a new versatile material for different applications. This research finding will provide a new direction to convert plastic waste into useful chemicals, which could reduce waste plastic and their carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future by reusing plastic materials and achieving a circular economy.