Upcycling discarded polyethylene terephthalate plastics into superior tensile strength and impact resistance materials with a facile one-pot process

Bingying Gao; Chao Yao; Xuzhang Sun; Ali Yaras; Linqiang Mao

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133662

Upcycling discarded polyethylene terephthalate plastics into superior tensile strength and impact resistance materials with a facile one-pot process

J Hazard Mater. 2024 Mar 15:466:133662. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133662. Epub 2024 Feb 1.

Authors

Bingying Gao¹, Chao Yao¹, Xuzhang Sun¹, Ali Yaras², Linqiang Mao³

Affiliations

¹ School of Petrochemical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China.
² Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Design, Department of Metallurgy and Material Engineering, Bartın University, Bartin, Turkey.
³ School of Environmental & Safety Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China. Electronic address: maolq@cczu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38309171
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133662

Abstract

Discarding PET plastic (dPET) causes serious environmental pollution and enormous fossil resources waste. Processing techniques have mainly focused on the conversion of dPET into monomers, with minimal reports highlighting their transformation into high-value materials. This work intends to transform dPET into a high-performance material with potential alternative value in harsh production environments. The soft and hard segments of the thermoplastic polyester elastomeric (TPEE) molecular structure are reacted and cross-linked with dPET using a facile one-pot process, and two main polymers, (C₈H₄O₄)_n and ((C₁₆H₁₈O₄)_0.76·(C₄H₈O)_0.24)_n are generated after the reaction. Through chemical reactions between TPEE and dPET, new characteristic products and chemical bond-crossing structures are formed, while the resulting product particles or multiple TPEE particles are anchored by the high viscosity of dPET, which endows the material with superior tensile strength (34.21 MPa) and impact resistance. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of the material implies that neither the molecular chain nor the chain segments can move, while only the atoms or groups composing the molecule vibrate at their equilibrium positions. The development of this new treatment method may contribute to the reduction of environmental pollution and the improvement of the high-value conversion and utilization of dPET.

Keywords: Discarded PET plastics; Facile one–pot conversion method; High–value utilization; Impact resistance; Tensile strength.