These biorenewable polyesters can replace polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to produce versatile plastic products including packaging, films, fibers and single-use beverage bottles. PET is a common commodity plastic currently comprising 13 percent of all plastic production worldwide. However, PET derives from chemicals extracted from fossil fuels, which continue to diminish and require significant time and resources for conversion to useful materials.
Researchers at the University of Florida have developed biodegradable aromatic polyesters derived from biobased succinic acid, providing a substitute for PET and other plastics manufactured from fossil fuels. Plastics that originate from biobased feedstocks can decompose back to their original materials, completing a relatively benign environmental cycle.
Recyclable or degradable aromatic polyesters synthesized from biobased succinic acid supplant fossil fuel-based PET plastic products
Polymeric or monomeric biobased carbohydrates are readily fermented into succinic acid, a dicarboxylic acid. The succinic acid undergoes esterification with methanol, yielding dimethyl succinate which dimerizes and then oxidatively aromatizes into dimethyl-2,5-dihydroxyterephthalate. From this intermediate two terephthalic acid analogues can be produced: 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid (DHTA) or 2,5-dimethoxyterephthalic acid (DMTA). These dicarboxylic acids, once synthesized, can incrementally or fully replace terephthalic acid in copolymerizations with diols, yielding biorenewable aromatic polyesters for use in plastic production.
