Abstract
In order to efficiently recycle waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, this study aimed to enhance the hydrolysis process to convert PET bottle into valuable terephthalic acid (TPA) by developing effective and reusable Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalysts. A series of Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was prepared by the impregnation method with different Ni loadings (5–15 wt%) and was characterized by various techniques including XRD, SEM-EDX, and N2 adsorption-desorption. The prepared catalysts were employed in the catalytic hydrolysis of PET under varied influencing factors, namely reaction temperature (220–280 °C), reaction time (20–60 min), and Ni loading. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the operating condition to produce the maximum TPA yield, and the optimal values were determined as follows: reaction temperature = 267.07 °C, reaction time = 48.54 min, and Ni loading = 12.90 wt%, giving the highest TPA yield of 97.06%. The R2, F-value, and P-value of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) were 0.9982, 424.96, and <0.0001, respectively, indicating a good fit of the model. The results from XRD and FTIR measurement of the produced TPA indicated the high purity and comparable chemical structures to the TPA standard. In addition, the 12.9Ni/Al catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity in repeated cycles of hydrolysis process of PET and could be regenerated by calcination to restore its catalytic activity. This finding could be a promising alternative for an effective TPA recovery from waste plastic bottles.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52250410339 and 52150410422).
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The conceptualization and data curation were drawn by Mi Yan. Investigation, conducting experiment, data curation, and main manuscript were prepared by Yayong Yang. Figures, tables, and conducting experiment were done by Feng Chen. Methodology was designed by Agamuthu Pariatamby. Resources and research ideas were provided by Dwi Hantoko. Conceptualization, manuscript editing, and supervision were done by Ekkachai Kanchanatip. All authors read, reviewed, and approved the final manuscript.
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Yan, M., Yang, Y., Chen, F. et al. Development of reusable Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst for catalytic hydrolysis of waste PET bottles into terephthalic acid. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 102560–102573 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29596-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29596-1