Alkaline Depolymerization of Polyethylene Terephthalate Plastic Waste

Depolymerization reaction is considered one of the most significant ways of converting waste polyethylene terephthalate in to terephthalic acid. The water polyethylene terephthalate bottle waste was collected from different places in Baghdad. The collection step shows that there is plenty amount of polyethylene terephthalate suitable to be an important source of terephthalic acid production.PET plastic waste conversion to terephthalic acid by depolymerization process was examined. The effect of ethylene glycol amount, reaction time (up to 90 minutes) and reaction temperature (from 70 to 170° C) on the polyethylene terephthalate conversion was obtained.The kinetic study shows that the ordination of the depolymerization reaction of PET is first order irreversible reaction with 31103.5 J/mole activation energy.A 97.9 % terephthalic acid purity has been obtained by purification with N, N-dimethylformamide.