Research progress on polyester chemical recycling and industrialization

The use of plastics has greatly promoted the development of human society, and an astonishing amount of waste plastics are produced around the world every year. Polyester plastic is one of the important plastics and is widely used in many fields. This article first discusses the impact of the structural parameters of polyester on the degradation process. Secondly, since catalysts often play an important role in the degradation process of polyester plastics, this article takes the catalysts used in alcoholysis, ammonolysis, hydrolysis, and photolysis in polyester degradation as examples to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of two types of catalysts, homogeneous catalysts and heterogeneous catalysts. The advantages and existing problems of new degradation technologies and their catalysts are also expounded. Subsequently, this article briefly introduces the catalyst-free degradation of polyester and ester-based polyolefins. In addition, this article uses PGA, PET, and PC plastics as examples to demonstrate the transformation and reuse of waste polyester plastics, and explains the current progress in the industrialization of polyester chemical recycling. Finally, the challenges and future development directions in this field are reviewed.