Utilization of Terephthalic Acid Obtained From Textile Waste for Environmental Detection of Mitoxantrone Using...

The global textile industry generates substantial amounts of waste, much of which originates from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Due to its resistance to natural degradation, PET accumulates in the environment and contributes to pollution and landfill growth. Chemical depolymerization offers a sustainable strategy for mitigating these impacts while recovering valuable monomers such as terephthalic acid (TPA) for high-value applications. In this study, five textile waste materials with varying PET content were subjected to alkaline hydrolysis using sodium hydroxide in a methanol-water medium. Pre-treated fabrics were cut into 2 mm pieces and reacted at 80°C for 10-65 min. The recovered products were isolated by acidification and subsequently characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, with the obtained spectra confirming the successful recovery of TPA and its expected molecular structure. The efficiency of TPA recovery was strongly influenced by fabric composition and reaction time. Fabric 5, containing 50% PET, produced the highest yield (27.91%) at 50 min, followed by Fabric 4 (24.77%). Fabrics 1-3 yielded between 20.61% and 23.77%, with optimum recovery occurring between 20 and 60 min. Prolonged reaction times led to reduced yields, suggesting partial degradation or re-dissolution of the product. To demonstrate value-added utilization, the recovered TPA was employed as a functional monomer in the synthesis of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the selective electrochemical detection of the anticancer drug mitoxantrone (MTX) in tap water. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to investigate MTX-TPA interactions at template-to-monomer ratios from 1:1 to 1:5. Both computational and experimental results identified the 1:1 ratio as optimal. The developed MIP-based sensor achieved a detection limit of 2.13 × 10^-13 M. These findings demonstrate the potential of converting textile waste into high-value functional materials for advanced environmental monitoring and analytical applications.