Due to the environmental impact caused by PET packaging disposal, this material recycling has been thoroughly discussed and evaluated. In particular, chemical recycling enables achievement of the monomers that are used in PET resin manufacture: ethylene glycol (EG) and terephthalic acid (PTA). Therefore, studies for this process optimization are important from environmental and economic points of view. The present study investigated certain parameters that influence the depolymerization reaction of PET post-consumer via alkaline hydrolysis in order to obtain PTA. Assays were performed at 70 °C by varying the concentration of sodium hydroxide and the reaction time. The best results were obtained at 10.82 mol L-1 NaOH and 9 h reaction time. Consequently, it was possible to prove this process viability, once analyses by infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance confirmed that PTA was obtained in all reactions performed.
Depolymerizing; PET; alkaline hydrolysis
