MUMBAI, India, May 30 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202517046071 A) filed by Evonik Operations Gmbh, Essen, Germany, on May 13, for 'improved method for the depolymerisation of polyethylene terephthalate.'
Inventor(s) include Reinsberg, Philip Heinrich; Zander, Christian; Ruwwe, Johannes; and Blum, Adrian.
The application for the patent was published on May 30, under issue no. 22/2025.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "The invention relates to a method for the depolymerisation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), in which PET is reacted in a mixture containing glycol and MAOR to form bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET; CAS-No.: 959-26-2), wherein MA is an alkali metal selected from sodium, potassium, lithium, and wherein R is an alkyl group with 2 to 7 carbon atoms. MAOR is obtained from a short-chain alcoholate MAOR' via transalcoholisation. The method according to the invention is characterised in that the proportion of unwanted cleavage products mono-(2-hydroxyethyl)-terephthalate (MHET) and terephthalate (TS) is particularly low in relation to the proportion of BHET. As a result, the method according to the invention provides a high yield of BHET, which can be used directly for renewed PET production. The invention also relates to a method for recycling PET, in which the BHET obtained in the method for the depolymerisation of PET is polymerised again to form PET, optionally after further cleaning."
The patent application was internationally filed on Oct. 19, 2022, under International application No.PCT/EP2022/079046.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
