ABSTRACT The Zn(OAc)2‐urea in situ deep eutectic melt was prepared for the alcoholysis of different poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) raw materials in methanol. The coordinate covalent bond between the zinc ion and urea was characterized by FTIR, and the structure of the resultant DMT was identified by FTIR, NMR, ESI‐MS, element analysis, and HPLC. Moreover, the effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst content, and mass ratio of MeOH/PET on the PET conversion and DMT yield for the PET alcoholysis reaction catalyzed by Zn(OAc) 2 ‐urea were thoroughly investigated. Furthermore, PET wastes of different colors were used as raw materials to study the effect of the catalyst on their reaction conversion rate and DMT monomer yield. The mechanism for PET glycolysis catalyzed by Zn(OAc) 2 ‐urea in situ deep eutectic melt has been proposed. Finally, the resultant DMT was transesterified to produce BHET and was polymerized into a renewable r‐PET to realize the recycling of waste PET.
Cheng et al. (Thu,) studied this question.