The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 17, 2019
Filed:
Nov. 18, 2016
The University of North Carolina AT Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Matthew Parrott, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Abstract
A process for chemically recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which utilizes a microwave absorber to optimize glycolytic depolymerization of PET via microwave irradiation. The method of chemically degrading PET to its reactive intermediate, bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET), is carried out by: (a) combining PET with ethylene glycol and a catalytic system comprising a catalyst and a microwave absorber to produce a heterogeneous reaction mixture; and then (b) heating by microwave irradiating the reaction mixture to a temperature sufficient to produce a reaction product comprising BHET. The BHET monomer then can be purified and re-polymerized to form new, virgin PET.