A MODERN UNDERSTANDING OF POLYETHYLENETEREPHTHALATE THE DEGRADATION PROCESSES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15421/jchemtech.v31i3.285240Keywords:
polyethylene terephthalate; hydrolytic degradation; thermal degradation; thermo-oxidative degradation; thermomechanical degradation; photodegradation.Abstract
This work provides information about the current understanding of polyethyleneterephthalate destruction. It presents overall concepts about the mechanisms of hydrolytic, thermal, thermo-oxidative, thermomechanical and photo- destruction of polyethyleneterephthalate. By analyzing a wide range of literature sources, it was found that the degradation of polyethylene terephthalate occurs by many mechanisms and almost always causes an autocatalytic process of its degradation (hydrolysis) with the formation of polymeric and/or oligomeric derivatives with hydroxyl, carboxyl and vinyl ester groups, ethylene, acetaldehyde and cyclic compounds. It has been shown that the initiation temperature of hydrolytic degradation is 100–120 ˚C and the rate of hydrolytic degradation is ~10000 time faster than its thermal and thermo-oxidative destruction. It was determined that during thermal degradation, the PET chain breaks by a mechanism that differs from the mechanism of its hydrolytic degradation and is accompanied by the formation of PET derivatives with different end groups. However, without oxygen, thermal degradation is 3 times faster than in its presence. All products formed during thermo mechanical degradation are chromatophores, leading to color changes and reducing the colorability of PET recycled products.
Photodestruction of PET is based on the mechanism of the Norrish photochemical reaction and is divided into 2 types – Norrish type 1 and Norrish type 2.
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