Adopting activated carbons on the PET depolymerization for purifying r-TPA

Abstract While polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling is crucial for environmental sustainability, existing chemical recycling methods face challenges in achieving high-purity recycled terephthalic acid (r-TPA) due to impurities generated during depolymerization. This often necessitates complex and costly purification steps, hindering the widespread adoption of r-TPA. This study presents a novel approach to enhance the purity of r-TPA by incorporating activated carbon treatment in the PET depolymerization process. Quilting cotton containing PET was depolymerized, and the resulting product was purified using activated carbons to remove impurities. The effectiveness of this method was assessed through comprehensive analyses. Remarkably, the activated carbon treatment yielded r-TPA with a high purity of 96.28%. Furthermore, the r-TPA exhibited comparable thermal properties and functional groups to virgin terephthalic acid, demonstrating that the purification process did not compromise its inherent characteristics. This approach offers a promising solution for producing high-quality r-TPA, paving the way for more efficient and sustainable PET waste management strategies.