Chemical recycling of unsaturated polyester resin and its composites via selective cleavage of the ester bond†
Abstract
An efficient strategy has been developed for chemical recycling of unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) and its glass fibre reinforced polymer composites (GFRP) by selectively cleaving C–O bonds using the AlCl3/CH3COOH system. AlCl3 promotes acyl exchange reaction between CH3COOH and UPR. This process facilitates recovery of valuable oligomers and monomers from UPR, and glass fibres from GFRP.