Japan Develops PET Bottle Recycling Technology

PET Recycling, a joint venture between Tokyo AIES and several other companies, has industrialized a process for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Plants that can recycle at least 27,000 tons of waste polyester each year were put into operation in Kawasaki, Japan before the end of 2003. AEIS also issued a license for this technology. This technology was developed by the company together with the Purification Japan Center in Tokyo.

The product is high purity polyethylene terephthalate (BHET), an intermediate for synthetic polyester resins. AEIS claims that its method simplifies the recycling process because other methods convert waste polyester to dibutyl terephthalate (DMT) and convert it to refined terephthalic acid for polyester production. In this process, the polyester bottle is crushed and washed, mixed with ethylene glycol and a proprietary catalyst, and depolymerized to BHET at 200-220C. Excess glycol recycling and recycling, purity of more than 98% of BHET is then recovered by molecular fractionation, yield of about 99.5%.

The company claims that this method is comparable to the use of fresh raw materials to prepare polyesters after taking into account the recycling processing fee (per kilogram) paid by Japanese polyester bottle manufacturers.