Research on electrocatalytic reforming of waste plastic PET to prepare biodegradable plastic PGA by Institute of Physical and Chemical Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences achieves new breakthroughs.

The official website of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences stated that the large-scale application of biodegradable plastics is a key breakthrough in solving the problem of plastic pollution. It is estimated that the demand for PGA in the Chinese market will reach a scale of millions of tons in the future. However, the mainstream production process of PGA faces significant challenges: the traditional synthesis route of its monomer material ethyl acid relies on highly toxic precursors, posing safety risks and making it difficult to scale up production. In response to this significant demand, the research team led by Professor Chen Yong of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new electrochemical synthesis strategy, using waste PET plastic as the starting material to successfully achieve kilogram-scale production of ethyl acid. In order to promote the industrialization of this technology and achieve the full-cycle conversion from waste PET plastic to biodegradable plastic PGA, the team systematically analyzed the two core challenges in the electrocatalytic rearrangement of PET to produce PGA: the low space-time yield of ethylene glycol in the production of ethyl acid; and the high cost of separating and purifying ethyl acid crystals. The results of economic and technological analysis show that the cost of producing PGA through the electrocatalytic rearrangement route is approximately $1240.12 per ton, which is close to the cost range of common polyolefin plastics, laying a solid foundation for the industrialization of this technology.