Elanna P Neppel, Richard-Joseph L Peterson, Lars Peereboom, John R Dorgan
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a widely used plastic packaging material that is often discarded after use. Previous studies have used recovered terephthalic acid derivatives to produce poly(p-phenyleneterephthalamide) (PPTA), an expensive commodity scale polymer widely known by the trade name Kevlar. Here, PPTA is synthesized using carbon that is 100% recovered from waste PET. To do so, the monomer p-phenylenediamine (PPD) is obtained through two facile "one-pot" reactions: (1) ammonolysis of PET to yield terephthalamide and (2) conversion of terephthalamide to PPD through a Hofmann type of rearrangement. Following earlier works, hydrolysis of PET followed by chlorination provides the monomer, terephthaloyl chloride (TCl). PPTA is synthesized by reacting the monomers in a solution of n-methyl pyrrolidone and calcium chloride. The pathway is demonstrated using zero-valued waste "clamshell" PET, a material usually excluded from recycling streams. The material reuse results in a lifesaving polymer used by members of the military, police, and other first-responders. It is concluded that this pathway provides an economic means of recovering and reusing waste PET that can reduce dependence on nonrenewable resources and foster greater material circularity in the plastics industries.
期刊介绍:
ACS Applied Polymer Materials is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research covering all aspects of engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology relevant to applications of polymers.
The journal is devoted to reports of new and original experimental and theoretical research of an applied nature that integrates fundamental knowledge in the areas of materials, engineering, physics, bioscience, polymer science and chemistry into important polymer applications. The journal is specifically interested in work that addresses relationships among structure, processing, morphology, chemistry, properties, and function as well as work that provide insights into mechanisms critical to the performance of the polymer for applications.