International Business Machines Corporation

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

Abdullah M Alabdulrahman

James L Hedrick

Phillip Joe Brock

Daniel Joseph Coady

Fares D Alsewailem

Kazuki Fukushima

Julia Elizabeth Rice

Hans Werner Horn

Hamid A Almegren

A method comprises forming a reaction mixture comprising a terephthalate polyester, a glycol comprising 2 to 5 carbons, and an amidine organocatalyst; and heating the reaction mixture at a temperature of about 120&#xb0; C. or more to depolymerize the terephthalate polyester, thereby forming a terephthalate reaction product comprising a monomeric dihydroxy terephthalate diester; wherein the terephthalate reaction product contains terephthalate oligomers in an amount less than the amount of terephthalate oligomers that would result from i) substituting the amidine organocatalyst with an equimolar amount of a guanidine catalyst and ii) depolymerizing the terephthalate polyester under otherwise identical reaction conditions.

Methods of depolymerizing terephthalate polyesters

Growing community of inventors

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abdullah M Alabdulrahman