MICROWAVE-ASSISTED CONVERSION OF PET BOTTLES INTO SEMI-RIGID

POLYURETHANE FOAM BY GLYCOLYSIS DEGRADATION

Carlo Manuel A. Banquerigo*, Vincent S. Dagala, Christy Joy A. Retanal
Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan, Chemical Engineering, Cagayan de Oro City, 9000 Philippines
* manuelbanquerigo@gmail.com

Abstract: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics are commonly used as water and soft drink bottles. Since these materials have
poor biodegradability and high resistance to the atmosphere, it is not appropriate to dispose them by land-filling. Furthermore,
these bottles contribute to the substantial plastic waste generation. Hence, this study aims to reduce the accumulation of waste
PET bottles through chemical recycling, as well as find a waste alternative raw material for the production of semi-rigid
polyurethane (PU) foams. Post-consumer PET bottles from the campus were collected, dried and size-reduced. The PET flakes
were subjected to microwave-assisted glycolysis in a modified microwave set-up with ethylene glycol as depolymerizing agent to
produce the crude glycolyzed product (GP). Glycolysis reaction time of 15 minutes yielded the highest percent conversion. The
method revised was very useful and obtained the desired glycolyzed product. The omitting of extraction on BHET also made an
advantage to fully prepare and produce foam, because all of the possible BHET can be used as raw material for the polyurethane.
The produced polyol solution mixed with diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI ) and water can possibly
produced a polyurethane foam.

Keywords: PET, polymer, depolymerization, glycerine, transesterification

I. INTRODUCTION foam has some flexibility so it does not chip or crack as

Plastics have molded the modern world and
transformed the quality of life. It contributes an important
role where there is no human activity where plastics do not
play a key role from clothing to shelter, transportation,
communication and many more. This entails the widespread
use of plastics and rapid accumulation of it that demands
effective recycling.
It is well known that Poly (ethylene terephthalate)
(PET) is widely used in the manufacture of disposable soft-
drink bottles, photographic films, and so on. According to
Sadeghi and Sayaf (2012), post-consumer PET bottles
contribute to substantial plastic waste generation. Large
numbers of Post-consumer PET products especially bottles
and containers do not create a direct hazard to the
environment but as a problem due to its substantial volume
fraction in the solid waste streams and its poor
biodegradability. There are various recycling processes that
can address this growing environmental concern and
chemical process is one of the recycling that is seen as the
best method. It enables recycling post-consumer PET
potential for further reactions to synthesize useful products
such as polyurethane which this study mainly focuses on.
There are various recycling processes that can
address this growing environmental concern and chemical
process is one of the recycling that is seen as the best
method. Moreover, Salmiaton et. al (2012) added that
recycling of PET lead to produce original feedstock of its
monomer that can used to synthesize useful products such as
polyurethane. Although several methods have been proposed
for recycling waste PET, it was suggested that the most
attractive method is chemical glycolysis into corresponding
monomers or raw chemicals.
Semi-Rigid class foams can be use in applications
that require load bearing property as well as some impact
resistance property. Comparing to rigid foam, semi-rigid
easily, yet it still has some load bearing property that resists
compression forces. These properties can be utilized in
various molded/filled parts such as sporting goods, floats,
bumpers, packaging, and many other custom applications.
Some structural foam materials can be categorized in this
class.
In this study, the aim is produce a semi-rigid
polyurethane foam from post-consumer PET bottles by
glycolysis degradation.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
A. Preparation of the PET Bottles as Raw Material
Shredding and Reduction of Particle Size
The post-consumer PET bottles labels and caps will be
removed and these will be cleaned, dried and cut into flakes.
Microwave Assisted Depolymerization of PET
B. Glycolysis of PET using glycerin
A sample of 15g of PET flakes were reacted with ethylene
glycol. A mixture of different molar ratio of PET to ethylene
glycol ratio (1:4) was prepared with ethylene glycol as the
excess reactant. The reaction was conducted in a microwave
fitted with a reflux condenser. With an irradiation power of
600 watts at a heating time of 15 minutes and 200-250C.
C. Transesterification of the Polyol mixture
After depolymerization, the glycolyzed product wss
transesterified in preparation for foaming. The glycolyzed
product was cooled to room temperature then added with
30g of Glycerine to initiate polycondensation and heated
again to mix. The obtained product was then cooled again to
room temperature.
D. Production of Foam
The produced mixture was mixed with water as blowing
agent and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI) with a
ratio of 1:1 to the mixture. Free-rising foaming was then
performed and cooled to room temperature. Further testing
of the product can then be performed.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The main objective of this study is to synthesize semi-rigid
polyurethane foam from the microwave-assisted
depolymerization of post-consumer PET bottles.
The experimental data were obtained through
experimentation. The PET to ethylene glycol molar ratio of
1:4 and reaction time of 15 min was used on the glycolysis
of waste PET in this study. The polyol mixture preparation
from the glycolyzed PET products and Glycerol was also
patterned from trans-esterification studies to produce
polyester polyol. . Glycerol has been widely used as a
crosslinker in polymeric material production, and could
compete with DEG in the depolymerization of PET for the
formation of cross-linking structures, resulting in increased
molecular weights of the glycolyzed PET polyols.
Furthermore, the glycolyzed PET with increased cross-
linking structures can cause more entanglement, resulting in
increased viscosity. Due to the high purity of CG, polyols
yields above than 92% were obtained under all conditions.
The produced polyester polyol was mixed with
diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI ) and water with 1:1
ratio to the mixture. The ratio of the components for the
polyurethane foam synthesis was also based from journals
about polyurethane foam production. The obtained foam
was about 4.8 g. The characteristic of the foam produced
was not yet specified because there is still no test perform to
verify the structure of the foam. Thus, the process used was
verified to produce polyurethane foam from PET waste
bottles.
IV. CONCLUSION.
The method revised was very useful and obtained the
desired glycolyzed product. The omitting of extraction on
BHET also made an advantage to fully prepare and produce
foam, because all of the possible BHET can be used as raw
material for the polyurethane. The produced polyol solution
mixed with diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI )
and water can possibly produced a
polyurethane foam.
The characteristic of the produced had not been described
yet because there were still no tests performed on the
produced foam. The possible errors of the experiment to
produce the semi-rigid foam were the ratio of PET to
Ethylene glycol and the ratio of polyol mixture to the
isocyanate and water.
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
. The researchers would like to thank their parents for the
support in the realization of this experiment. They would
like to acknowledge Engr. Christylene Balagtas for her
insights, knowledge and guidance which were very helpful
in this experiment.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] Abdelaal, M. Y., Sobahi, T. R., & Makki, M. I. (2011).
Chemical Transformation of PET Waste Through
Glycolysis. Construction and Building Materials, 3267
3271.
[2] Aiemsa-art, C., Phanwiroj, P. & Potiyaraj, P. (2011).
Thermal and Morphological Properties of Polyurethane
Foams Prepared from Microwave-assisted Glycolyzed
Products of PET Bottles Wastes. Energy Procedia, 9 (2011):
428-434.
[3] Badri, K.H., Dawi, L.I.M., & Aziz, N.A.A. (2013). Rigid
Polyurethane Foam from Glycolysed Polyethylene
Terephthalate Dissolved in Palm-based Polyol. Sains
Malaysiana 42(4) (2013): 449-457.
[4]
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijps/2015/124
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