Recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) based – plasticizers for PVC regranulates production

Abstract

Due to the increasing use and widespread of plastics, poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) are becoming one of the major threats to the environment. The aim of this paper is obtaining plasticizers from recycled PET, and hot/cold mixing thereof with PVC to produce new materials. Plasticizer was obtained from PET using ethylene glycol (EG) in the presence of catalyst FASCAT 4100, followed by treatment with maleic anhydride and finally 2-ethylhexanol (2-EtHex). The obtained glycolysate and plasticizer, individually or mixtures thereof, were used for the production of polygranulates based on waste PVC in order to obtain an expanded mass of homogenized PVC with glycolysate/plasticizer. The abovementioned procedures and test results for the regranulates and products indicate that the proposed technology offers a solution to the problem of waste PET and PVC through transesterification in order to obtain plasticizer based on PET and EG, called 2-EtHex/MA/РG/PET/EG/MA/2-EtHex used in the processing of PVC waste and in regranulate. The obtained regranulates are further processed by injection molding or extrusion into commercial products such as slippers, footwear, boots, garden hoses, mats, floor mats, etc.