Issue 9, 2023

Chemical recycling of PET to value-added products

Abstract

The term 'plastic' includes various materials (PP, PE, PET, PVC, and more), but most of them, but most of them take very long period of time to decompose and continue to cause harm to the environment. Currently, only a small percentage of plastic waste is recycled, usually for energy or the production of lower-quality products. Chemical recycling and upcycling offers a solution where plastic can be broken down into its original building blocks and transformed into new and high-quality plastics. When compared to traditional mechanical recycling, polymer upcycling systems may provide more energy-efficient pathways and have less impact on the environment. It is heartening to see recycling and upcycling techniques gain traction in industry, and creating new catalyst-driven technologies is critical to encourage better plastics recycling. This review highlights recent advancements in the development of efficient catalysts and effective strategies for the chemical recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into monomers, fine chemicals, and carbon materials.

Graphical abstract: Chemical recycling of PET to value-added products

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
04 Sep 2023
Accepted
18 Oct 2023
First published
19 Oct 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Sustain., 2023,1, 2135-2147

Chemical recycling of PET to value-added products

Z. Jia, L. Gao, L. Qin and J. Yin, RSC Sustain., 2023, 1, 2135 DOI: 10.1039/D3SU00311F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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