Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most abundant synthetic materials produced in the world and is rapidly accumulating as a problematic waste in the environment. PET discarded in the environment (such as rivers and ocean) gradually breaks up into microplastics and nanoplastics thus become more difficult to gather and recycle using conventional separation methods. In this study, hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DES) are synthesized from natural compounds and used to extract the PET particles from water. Partition of model PET micro- and nanoparticles in DES and aqueous solution (water and synthetic see water) was tested. Furthermore, extraction kinetics were measured by tracking the concentration-time function of PET particles in the DES and aqueous phases. This study demonstrates the efficacy of hydrophobic DESs for plastics extraction and provides critical knowledge for future process development.

Extraction of polyethylene terephthalate particles from water using hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.