Investigating crystallinity of branched PET through DSC and NMR analysis

• Main Author: Lee, Ling Ying
• Other Authors: Lam Yeng Ming
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/156273
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

PET is a thermoplastic polymer with a large number of applications. PET production for packaging has been rising at a breakneck pace during the last few years. To reduce its cost and lower its impact on the environment, PET recycling has attracted great attention in recent years, as PET takes hundreds of years to disintegrate in landfills. Although various chemical recycling technologies were proposed, many of them are still in the research phase. This is due to the high cost of recycling which is a major factor. As branching lowers crystallinity of PET, breakdown of branching PET structure is presented with the goal of boosting recycling while also being environmentally friendly. This concept focuses on the depolymerization of PET and the analysis of the PET via 1H NMR Spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).