A new class of catalysts for the glycolysis of PET: Deep eutectic solvent@ZIF-8 composite

As an excellent catalyst, DES has been used in PET degradation reaction, but its recovery is currently achieved by evaporating a large amount of solvent,which will undoubtedly consume a lot of energy. In this study, we combined DES and ZIF, and synthesized composites of [email protected], in which DES was synthesized using acetamide and different metal salts. Then the effects of experimental parameters on theconversion of PET and the yield of BHET were investigated. Under the optimal conditions: PET(5g), ethylene glycol(25g), and catalyst(0.02g) at 195°C for 25min, PET conversation is 100%, BHET yield is 83.2%. After the reaction, the catalyst can be recovered by simple filtration, the catalyst was recycled for six times with negligible loss of catalytic activity. XRD, FT-IR, SEM and TGA were carried out to characterize the catalyst. In addition, possible mechanism was proposed.