Chemical recycling of polymer to monomer is a useful strategy in dealing with plastic pollution, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is among the most used plastic in modern society. In this context, we herein describe a facile and efficient method for depolymerizing PET into terephthalic acid (TPA) monomer. Using post-consumer PET bottles, the depolymerization was performed via hydrolysis in an alkaline solution under microwave irradiation using a domestic microwave oven. The TPA monomer recovery was obtained in sufficiently high yield, in addition to energy saving. The result illustrates the importance of the microwave-assisted technique as a promising recycling method for plastic bottles made from PET. This method of depolymerization of PET can be accomplished in a typical lab period in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory and it is particularly fitting when related to the ester hydrolysis topic in the organic lecture.

Microwave-assisted chemical recycling of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles

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ACS Fall 2022

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