Chemical Conversion of Waste Pet to Valued-Added Bis(2-Hydroxyethyl) Terephthalamide (Bheta) Through Aminolysis

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a thermoplastic polymer with widely used in the world but difficultly degraded in nature. Therefore, large amounts of waste PET need to be recycled. In this study, in order to achieve a green and efficient method to degrade and recycle of waste PET for new functional chemicals, PET waste was first swelled with acetic acid and then degraded under atmospheric pressure and at 70℃ for 4 h with ethanolamine as solvent. Because the swelling-induced pores by acetic acid, the degradation of PET has a higher efficiency than conventional methods. The aminolysis products bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalamide (BHETA) were confirmed by FT-IR and NMR characterization methods, and it could be readily separated and recovered from solvent. Finally, the degradation mechanism was discussed. This research provides a feasible approach for realizing efficient recycling of PET with high value.