Manner and Mechanism: Investigation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Hydrolytic Depolymerization under Microwave Irradiation

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is hydrolyzed to terephthalate acid(TPA) and ethylene glycol(EG) under microwave irradiation in neutral water. The morphology of depolymerized PET residues is studied with Polarized Microscopy (POM) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and the mechanisms of the reaction are discussed. Hydrolytic depolymerization of PET occurres on the surface and in the inside of PET grains simultaneously.The majority of cleaved PET molecule bonds are broken by random chain scission, however, depolymerization do occur.