Repurposing polyethylene terephthalate plastic waste to capture carbon dioxide.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40911693.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adv5906 and PMC identifier 12412650.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a ubiquitous polymer with a lack of viable waste management solutions besides mechanical recycling, incineration, and landfilling. Herein, we demonstrate a chemical upcycling of PET waste into materials for CO<sub>2</sub> capture via aminolysis. The aminolysis reaction products-a bis-aminoamide (BAETA) and oligomers-exhibit high CO<sub>2</sub> capture capacity up to 3.4 moles per kilogram as a stand-alone organic solid material. BAETA shows strong chemisorption featuring high selectivity for CO<sub>2</sub> capture from flue gas (5 to 20% CO<sub>2</sub>) and ambient air (~400 parts per million CO<sub>2</sub>) under humid conditions. Our thermally stable material (>250°C) enables CO<sub>2</sub> capture at high temperatures (up to 170°C) for multiple cycles. Scalability of the material production was demonstrated by performing aminolysis of untreated consumer waste PET of 1 kilogram. Our approach introduces a simple and straightforward solution that can address both plastic waste and carbon dioxide, offering a potential pathway toward net negative emissions.