1.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE or PET):

PET is the most widely produced plastic in the world. It is used predominantly as a fiber (known by
the trade name “polyester”) and for bottling or packaging. For example, PET is the plastic used for
bottled water and is highly recyclable.

PET plastic water bottle

 Polyester Fabric

Three words or short phrases to describe the major benefits of Polyethylene relative to other
plastics and materials would be:

 Wide applications as a fiber (“polyester”)

 Extremely effective moisture barrier
 Shatterproof

2. Polyethylene (PE):

There are a number of different variants of polyethylene. Low and high density polyethylene (LDPE
and HDPE respectively) are the two most common and the material properties vary across the
different variants.

HDPE plastic container

1. LDPE: LDPE is the plastic used for plastic bags in grocery stores. It has high ductility
but low tensile strength.

1. HDPE: A stiff plastic used for more robust plastic packaging like laundry detergent
containers as well as for construction applications or trash bins.

1. UHMW: Extremely strong plastic that can rival or even exceed steel in strength and
is used is for applications like medical devices (e.g. artificial hips).

3. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC):

Polyvinyl Chloride is perhaps most well known for its use in residential and commercial property
construction applications. Different types of PVC are used for plumbing, insulation of electrical wires,
and “vinyl” siding. In the construction business PVC pipe is often referred to by the term “schedule
40” which indicates the thickness of the pipe relative to its length.

Schedule 40 PVC pipe

Three words or short phrases to describe the major benefits of PVC relative to other plastics and
materials would be:

 Brittle
 Rigid (although different PVC variants are actually designed to be very flexible)
 Strong

4. Polypropylene (PP):

Polypropylene is used in a variety of applications to include packaging for consumer products, plastic
parts for the automotive industry, special devices like living hinges, and textiles. It is semi-
transparent, has a low-friction surface, doesn’t react well with liquids, is easily repaired from
damage and has good electrical resistance (i.e. it is a good electrical insulator). Perhaps most
importantly, polypropylene is adaptable to a variety of manufacturing techniques which makes it
one of the most commonly produced and highly demanded plastics on the market.
 Living hinge prototype cap CNC machined from polypropylene

Two short phrases to describe the major benefits of Polypropylene relative to other plastics and
materials would be:

 Unique Use For Living Hinges

 Simple To Manufacture

5. Polystyrene (PS):

Polystyrene is used widely in packaging under the trade name “styrofoam.” It is also available as a
naturally transparent solid commonly used for consumer products like soft drink lids or medical
devices like test tubes or petri dishes.
 Styrofoam peanuts

One short phrase to describe the major benefits of Polystyrene relative to other plastics and
materials would be:

 Foam Applications

6. Polylactic Acid (PLA):

Polylactic Acid is unique in relation to the other plastics on this list in that it is derived from biomass
rather than petroleum. Accordingly it biodegrades much quicker than traditional plastic materials.

A cup made from bioplastic PLA

Two words or short phrases to describe the major benefits of Polylactic Acid relative to other plastics
and materials would be:

 Biodegradable
 DIY 3D Printing (compare PLA to ABS)

7. Polycarbonate (PC):

Polycarbonate is a transparent material known for its particularly high impact strength relative to
other plastics. It is used in greenhouses where high transmissivity and high strength are both
required or in riot gear for police.

A polycarbonate greenhouse
Two words or short phrases to describe the major benefits of Polycarbonate relative to other plastics
and materials would be:

 Transparent
 High Strength

8. Acrylic (PMMA):

Acrylic is best known for its use in optical devices. It is extremely transparent, scratch resistant, and
much less susceptible to damaging human skin or eye tissue if it fails (e.g. shatters) in close proximity
to sensitive tissue.

A laser being directed through an acrylic lens

Two words or short phrases to describe the major benefits of Acrylic relative to other plastics and
materials would be:

 Transparent
 Scratch Resistant

9. Acetal (Polyoxymethylene, POM):

Acetal is a very high tensile strength plastic with significant creep resistant properties that bridge the
material properties gap between most plastics and metals. It is known for high resistance to heat,
abrasion, water, and chemical compounds. Additionally, Acetal has a particularly low coefficient of
friction which combined with its other characteristics makes it very useful for applications that
utilize gears.
 Acetal gears and rack

One short phrase to describe the major benefits of Acetal relative to other plastics and materials
would be:

 Low Friction

10. Nylon (PA):

Nylon is used for a variety of applications to include clothing, reinforcement in rubber material like
car tires, for use as a rope or thread, and for a number of injection molded parts for vehicles and
mechanical equipment. It is often used as a substitute for low strength metals in applications like car
engines because of its high strength (relative to other plastics), high temperature resilience, and high
chemical compatibility.

Nylon rope

Two short phrases to describe the major benefits of Nylon relative to other plastics and materials
would be:

 High Strength
 Temperature Resistant
In this case, the discussion decided to choose PET for reasons.

Methanolysis actually involves the degradation of PET by methanol at high temperatures and high
pressures with the main products being dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and ethylene glycol (EG) as
shown in Fig. 6. Methanolysis of PET flakes is usually performed at temperatures between 180 °C and
280 °C and pressures from 2 to 4 MPa. Methanolysis is currently and successfully applied to scrap
bottles, fiber waste, used films and plant waste.

Figure 6. Methanolysis of PET as described in.

Alcoholysis of PET with trimethylol propane in the presence of zinc acetate as a catalyst was reported
to give products that, when mixed with PVC, could result in PVC plastisols. There are known examples
of using arylsulfonic acid salts as the catalyst for methanolytic degradation of PET. The principal
elements of the installation used in the batch method of methanolysis are autoclave, crystallizer,
centrifuge, and a system for the melting and distillation of the DMT obtained. Gruschke et al. reported
that PET was completely (more than 99%) depolymerized to DMT and EG by reacting molten PET with
methanol at 210 °C in the absence of a catalyst. Sako et al. proposed a new process of methanolysis
by treating PET with supercritical methanol. In this process PET can be completely depolymerized to
DMT, EG, and oligomers above 300 °C at 11 MPa for 30 min without a catalyst.

The main advantage of this method is that an installation of methanolysis can be located in the
polymer production line, since the DMT produced has a product quality identical to virgin DMT. In
addition, ethylene glycol and methanol can be easily recovered and recycled. In this way, waste PET
arising in the production cycle is used and the monomers recovered can be re-used in the manufacture
of a full value polymer.

Disadvantages of the method include the high cost associated with the separation and refining of the
mixture of the reaction products (glycols, alcohols and phthalate derivatives). If water perturbs the
process, it poisons the catalyst and forms various azeotropes. However, the main disadvantage is
associated with the trend of all of the new PET production processes to use TPA instead of DMT as the
raw material. The conversion of the DMT produced by hydrolysis to TPA adds considerable cost to the
methanolysis process.

Greener routes for recycling of polyethylene terephthalate

A.M.Al-Sabagha, F.Z.Yehia, Gh.Eshaq, A.M.Rabie, A.E. ElMetwally

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110062115000148