Converting waste PET plastics into automobile fuels and antifreeze components
Yunnan Institute of Environmental Sciences · East China Normal University · +1 more institution
Abstract
Abstract With the aim to solve the serious problem of white plastic pollution, we report herein a low-cost process to quantitatively convert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into p -xylene (PX) and ethylene glycol (EG) over modified Cu/SiO 2 catalyst using methanol as both solvent and hydrogen donor. Kinetic and in-situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies demonstrate that the degradation of PET into PX involves tandem PET methanolysis and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) selective hydro-deoxygenation (HDO) steps with the in-situ produced H 2 from methanol decomposition at 210 °C. The overall high activities are attributed to the high Cu + /Cu 0 ratio derived from the dense and granular copper…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 26.42
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 30
Authors
5- ZGZhiwen GaoCorresponding
Yunnan Institute of Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University
- BMBing Ma
National Institute of Ecology, East China Normal University
- SCShuang Chen
Yunnan Institute of Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University
- JTJingqing Tian
Yunnan Institute of Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University
- CZChen Zhao
National Institute of Ecology, East China Normal University
Topics & keywords
- Methanol
- Ethylene glycol
- Polyethylene terephthalate
- Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
- Materials science
- Chemical engineering
- Decomposition
- Antifreeze