Issue 40, 2025

One-pot depolymerization–repolymerization of PET waste into sustainable photocurable liquid copolyesters for high-performance additive manufacturing

Abstract

In this work, we present a sustainable one-pot two-step approach for the depolymerization and repolymerization of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) into high-performance photocurable liquid polyesters suitable for vat photopolymerization (VP) additive manufacturing. By coupling PET waste alcoholysis with biobased diols and polytransesterification with dimethyl itaconate (DMI), novel poly(diyl itaconate-co-terephthalate) copolyesters were synthesized under solvent-free conditions using dibutyltin dilaurate as a catalyst. The resulting polyesters were formulated with reactive diluents and photoinitiators to yield printable resins with up to 22 wt% recycled PET. Mechanical and thermal analysis of 3D printed parts revealed that the incorporation of PET-derived aromatic structures enhanced stiffness, strength, and thermal stability, while the presence of itaconate units enabled high crosslink density and tunable flexibility. The optimal formulation, containing 75 wt% photocurable polyester containing 15.3% recycled PET, achieved a Young's modulus of 1.4 GPa and flexural strength of 54 MPa, representing the highest performance reported to date for itaconic acid-based 3D printable resins. This integrated approach represents a significant green advance by combining solvent-free processing, renewable feedstocks, and post-consumer PET valorisation. The sustainability of the materials was further validated using the Sustainable Formulation Score (SFS), placing the top-performing resins in the top 10% of benchmarked systems.

Graphical abstract: One-pot depolymerization–repolymerization of PET waste into sustainable photocurable liquid copolyesters for high-performance additive manufacturing

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 May 2025
Accepted
15 Sep 2025
First published
18 Sep 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Green Chem., 2025,27, 12830-12843

One-pot depolymerization–repolymerization of PET waste into sustainable photocurable liquid copolyesters for high-performance additive manufacturing

R. Carmenini, A. Sanz de León, T. Benelli, L. Giorgini, M. Comes Franchini, S. I. Molina and M. Maturi, Green Chem., 2025, 27, 12830 DOI: 10.1039/D5GC02696B

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