Study on Alcoholysis of Waste PET and Its Application in Wood Modification

W. Xiang, Z. Li, B. Zhang, H. Tang, X. Yuan and T. Xu

Abstract
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a thermoplastic polyester, is frequently used in plastic packaging such as bottles, films, and synthetic fibers. Due to its slow degradation in the natural environment, the accumulation of PET in large quantities poses a serious threat to the ecosystem. In this study, camphor pine wood was impregnated with these products by first alcoholyzing the waste PET, followed by the creation of a functional resin. The process of PET binary alcoholysis and unsaturated polyester (UPR) synthesis successfully incorporated certain characteristic groups from the PET raw material structure into the subsequent products of each stage, and cured them into a bulk unsaturated polyester with p-phenylene structure. The curing reaction primarily occurred in the carbon-carbon double bonds, according to the FTIR analysis of the PET raw material and the products at each stage. Under ideal conditions, the vacuum impregnation enhancement modification of camphor pine led to a 52.1 % increase in compressive strength and a decrease in water absorption from 103.8 % to 42 %, effectively enhancing the wood’s compressive strength and resistance to water absorption.

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Keywords
vacuum impregnation, wood alteration, unsaturated polyester, PET recycling