| Abstract: | Depolymerization reactions of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) waste in aqueous sodium hydroxide solution were carried out in a batch reactor at 80–140 °C at atmospheric pressure by varying PBT particle size in the range of 50–512.5 μm. Reaction time was also varied from 10–110 min to understand the influence of PBT particle size and reaction time on the batch reactor performance. Agitator speed, particle size of PBT and reaction time required were optimized. Disodium terephthalate (salt) and 1,4‐butanediol (BD) remain in the liquid phase. BD was recovered by the salting‐out method. Disodium terephthalate was separated by acidification to obtain solid terephthalic acid (TPA). The produced monomeric products (TPA and BD) and PBT were analyzed. The yields of TPA and BD were in agreement with PBT conversion. The depolymerization reaction rate was first order to PBT concentration as well as first order to sodium hydroxide concentration. The acid value of TPA changes with the reaction time as well as particle size of PBT. This indicates that PBT molecules get fragmented and hydrolyze simultaneously with aqueous sodium hydroxide to produce BD and disodium terephthalate. Activation energy, Arrhenius constant, equilibrium constant, Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy were determined. The dependence of the hydrolysis rate constant on reaction temperature was correlated by the Arrhenius plot, which shows an activation energy of 25 kJ/mol and an Arrhenius constant of 438 L/min/cm2. |
