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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Depolymerizable Olefinic Polymers Based on Fused-Ring Cyclooctene Monomers
Published on: December 16, 2022
Recoverable macroporous polyanion bead catalysts for scalable continuous chemical depolymerization of polyethylene
Yongsu Kim1, Youngwon Lee2,3,4, Ji Hee Yun1
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
The glycolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) offers a promising closed-loop recycling method, converting PET waste into a single monomer bis(hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET). However, traditional metal-based catalysts leave hazardous residues, while alternatives are costly and energy-intensive to recover, limiting the economic feasibility of glycolysis. Herein, we present polyanion-based macroporous bead catalysts that enable efficient PET depolymerization, easy separation, and excellent reusability. These macroporous bead catalysts can be recovered through simple filtration and reused over 30 times, maintaining a BHET yield of 90.7 ± 2.7%, and further enable continuous PET depolymerization in a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) operation with a 79.7 ± 2.6% conversion rate for over 4 h. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the proposed process estimate a minimum selling price of $1.02/kg BHET, making it economically competitive with virgin BHET, along with a global warming impact of 1.90 kg CO2-eq/kg recycled PET-substantially lower than virgin PET production.
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