PVC plasticizer from chemical recycling of PET bottles

• Grant number: 14/18072-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: August 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Sandro Donnini Mancini
• Grantee: Sandro Donnini Mancini
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Sorocaba. Sorocaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The PVC plasticizers Brazilian market is around 200 kton per year, leading to the study of new alternatives in relation to diethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP or DOP, dioctyl phthalate), the most used plasticizer in the country. Despite its low cost and good performance, DEHP is forbidden to be applied in some products, as it eventually can contaminate these products and their users. In the world, diethyl hexyl terephthalate (DEHTP) is used and it is produced after the reaction of 2-ethyl-hexanol and, usually, dimethyl terephthalate (DMT). DEHTP is not forbidden, since DMT is used to produce poly (ethylene terephthalate) PET bottles, e.g., for soft drinks and mineral water. It is also possible to produce DEHTP from the reaction of 2-ethyl-hexanol and PET, which represents a chemical recycling of the polymer. The objective of this research is to obtain DEHTP not only by DMT transesterification but also by chemical recycling of PET post-consumer waste. This plasticizer will be characterized and will be used do produce flexible PVC, which will be compared to flexible PVC produced with commercial DEHP. (AU)