• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.102-108
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• 2010

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of recycled PET (RPET) fiber made from waste PET bottles to examine application on concrete member. To evaluate the reinforcement effect of RPET fiber in concrete member, experimental tests were performed, such as mechanical property tests (compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and splitting tensile strength) and drying shrinkage test. In mechanical property tests, compressive strength and modulus of elasticity in concrete mixed with RPET fiber gradually decreased, but splitting tensile strength gradually increased as volume fraction of fiber increased. In drying shrinkage test, free drying shrinkage increased. In restrained case, in contrast, crack occurrence was delayed because of tensile resistance increase by RPET fiber. The comparison of RPET and PP fiber added concrete specimen's properties showed that two materials had similar properties. In conclusion, RPET fiber is an alternative material of PP fiber, even finer for its excellence in eco-friendliness due to the recycling of waste PET bottles and its possible contribution to the pollution declination.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.2 s.80
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• pp.205-212
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• 2004

Recently, as concerns over environmental issues are raised more and more trend to use recycled waste for producing construction materials is also raised. Especially, a case of waste resin is considerably destroying the environment due to disposal way that most waste resin produced is disposed of landfill. This study is performed by polymer concrete with recycled PET resin in terms of obtaining safely clean construction resources and protection of environment. High setting shrinkage and sensitivity to heat are main disadvantages of Polymer Concrete (PC) despites of a lot merits. The aim of this study is to investigate basic properties such as setting shrinkage, length change and sensitivity to heat about PET recycled polymer concrete. The other is to check the possibility of use of Montmorillonite as one of a lot of additive without special coupling agent. As results of experiments, various properties of polymer concrete with recycled PET resin are similar with conventional PC except that polymerization time is longer. Montmorillonite was efficiently used to reduce setting shrinkage, length change and coenicient of thermal expansion related to heat with enhanced strength

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.719-722
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• 2004

Resins using recycled PET offer the possibility of a lower source cost of materials for making useful polymer concrete products. The purposed of this paper is to form a part of reducing the damage of sulfuric acid, through investigating recycled PET polymer concrete, . immersed at sulfuric acid solution for 84 days. Recycled PET PC is excellent chemical resistance, resulting in the role of unsaturated polyester resin which consists of polymer chain structure accomplishes bond of aggregates and filler strongly. Also, Recycled PET PC, used fly-ash as filler, is stronger resistance of sulfuric acid corrosion than $CaCO_3$, because it is composed of $SiO_2$ and very strong glassy crystal structure. Therefore, Recycled PET PC, used fly-ash as filler, is available under corrosion circumstances like sewer pipe or waste disposal plant.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.7-15
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• 2002

A particle flow visualization, electrostatic charging measurement and separation of triboelectrically charged particles in the external electric field by a fluidized bed tribocharger are conducted for the removal of PVC particles from mixed waste plastics. The laboratory-scale triboelectrostatic separation system consists of the fluidized bed tribocharger, a separation chamber, a collection chamber and a controller. PVC and PET particles can be imparted negative and positive surface charges respectively due to the difference of triboelectric charging series between particles and particles in the fluidized bed tribocharger, and can be separated by passing them through an external electric field. To visualize these charged particles, He-Ne laser is used with cylindrical lenses to generate a sheet beam. In the charging measurement, the particle motion analysis system (PMAS), capable of determining particle velocity and diameter. is used to non-intrusively measure particle behavior in high strength electric field. The average charge-to-mass ratios of PVC and PET particles are $1.4\;and\;1.2{\mu}C/kg$, respectively. The highly concentrated PVC (91.9%) can be recovered with a yield of about 96.1% from the mixture of PVC and PET materials for a single-stage processing. The triboelectrostatic separation system using the fluidized tribocharger shows the potential to be an effective method for removing PVC from mixed plastics for waste plastic recycling.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.816-821
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• 2003

This paper deals with a reduction in the setting shrikage of polymer concrete using bentonite as shrinkage reducing agent. This study with polymer concrete using unsaturated polyester(UP) based on recycled PET waste was performed to verify the effect of various shrinkage reducing agent contents and the types of filler which are fly ash and $CaCo_3$. Setting stress induced by setting shrinkage was investigated in temrs of mechanical and chemical combination.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.4 s.88
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• pp.499-504
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• 2005

Polymer concrete shows excellent mechanical properties and chemical resistance compared with conventional normal cement concrete. The polymer concrete Is drawing a strong interest as high-performance materials in the construction industry Resins using recycled PET offer the possibility of a lower source cost of materials for making useful polymer concrete products. Also the recycling of PET in polymer concrete would help solve some of the solid waste problems Posed by plastics and save energy. An objective of this paper is to estimate the damage of sulfuric acid, through investigating recycled PET polymer concrete, immersed at sulfuric acid solution for 84 days. As a result of testing, recycled PET PC, used $CaCO_3$ as filler, makes a problem of appearance and strength if they are exposed for long term at corrosion environment. On the other hand, recycled PET PC, used fly-ash as filler, had less effect on decrease in weight and strength. Recycled PET PC is excellent chemical resistance, resulting in the role of unsaturated polyester resin which consists of polymer chain structure accomplishes bond of aggregates and filler strongly. Also, recycled PET PC, used fly-ash as filler, is stronger resistance of sulfuric acid corrosion than $CaCO_3$, because it is composed of $SiO_2$ and very strong glassy crystal structure. Therefore, recycled PET PC, used fly-ash as filler, is available under corrosion circumstances like sewer pipe or waste disposal plant.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.1 s.79
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• pp.79-87
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• 2004

The qualify of lightweight aggregate made from waste PET bottle(WPLA) and the workability, the unit weight and strength property of concrete with WPLA were investigated for the purpose of recycling the waste PET bottles as lightweight concrete fine aggregate. This study indicated a good result that WPLA should be replaced with less than $50\%$ of natural fine aggregate. When WPLA was replaced with $50\%$ of natural fine aggregate, the specific gravity and water absorption of mixed fine aggregate were greatly reduced about 23 and $75\%$ respectively in comparison with those of river sand. The quality of WPLA affected on the properties of lightweight aggregate concrete. The workability of fresh concrete with WPLA(WPLAC) was improved with increasing the replacement ratio of WPLA and water cement ratio. Slump increasing ratio of the former showed about $45 {\~} 120\%$ because that a specific gravity of fine aggregate was decreased from 2.6 to 1.7. The unit weight of concrete with $75\%$ WPLA was decreased about $17\%$ in comparison with that of control concrete. Furthermore, the compressive strength of concrete with 25 and $50 \%$ WPLA at the age of 28 days increased higher than 30 MPa regardless with water cement ratio (W/C=45, 49 and $53\%$) of this study. Specific strength of concrete with $25\%$ WPLA, $15.11{\times}10^3 MPa{\cdot}m^3/kg$, was higher than that of contro concrete in water cement ratio of $49\%$. The compressive strength-splitting tensile strength ratio and compressive strength-modulus of elasticity ratio of WPLAC were similar to that of nomal lightweight aggregate concrete. This results showed a good estimation that WPLA will be able to recycled as a fine aggregate for lightweight concrete.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.281-289
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• 2021

Commercially used disposable cups undergo fragmentation in the environment and become microplastics (MPs). These MPs can be ingested by aquatic organisms and cause a range of adverse effects. We assessed the acute and chronic toxicity of disposable cup-derived MP fragments in Daphnia magna. MP fragments were identified as a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fragment with a size of 33.18 ± 7.76 ㎛. The presence of three additives including 1- Propanone. 1-phenyl-3-[2-(phenylmethoxy)phenyl]-, p-Xylene and ethylbenzene was analyzed from MP fragments. The 48 h acute toxicity revealed that 20 % of immobilization and mortality were found at the highest concentration of PET MP (200 mg L^-1). The 21 d chronic toxicity revealed that PET MP fragments significantly (p < 0.05) more reduced survival rate (31 %), total offspring (52 %) in D. magna compared with control group. The developmental abnormality of offspring (3.5%) by PET MP fragments was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than control groups (0.3%). These results are possibly induced by gut blocking by ingestion of MP fragments and their longer retention time. These findings indicate that the fragmentation of disposable cups (PET polymers) into small-sized MP fragments pose a significant ecological risk to aquatic organisms. Further studies are required to elucidate the underlying toxicity mechanisms.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2024

This review paper provides a detailed analysis of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle recycling in Japan. Japan is a global leader in PET bottle recycling due to its advanced regulatory framework and proactive industry initiatives. Japan's success attributes to the widespread adoption of bottle-to-bottle recycling, driven by the beverage industry's commitment to sustainability. By utilizing post-consumer PET bottle recovery and food-grade mechanical recycling technologies, Japan has achieved significant milestones in PET bottle recycling. This paper examines regulatory frameworks, collection systems, reprocessing facilities, and food safety assessments to highlight Japan's innovative approaches to PET bottle recycling and their impact on global sustainability efforts. Drawing parallels with Korea's early stages of PET recycling, it suggests involving major beverage companies and re-evaluating regulations to promote bottle-to-bottle recycling. The focus is on the implications for Korea to promote circular economy principles in plastic recycling.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2023

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a plastic material commonly applied to beverage packaging used in everyday life. Owing to PET's versatility and ease of use, its consumption has continuously increased, resulting in considerable waste generation. Several physical and chemical recycling processes have been developed to address this problem. Recently, biological upcycling is being actively studied and has come to be regarded as a powerful technology for overcoming the economic issues associated with conventional recycling methods. For upcycling, PET should be degraded into small molecules, such as terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, which are utilized as substrates for bioconversion, through various degradation processes, including gasification, pyrolysis, and chemical/biological depolymerization. Furthermore, biological upcycling methods have been applied to biosynthesize value-added chemicals, such as adipic acid, muconic acid, catechol, vanillin, and glycolic acid. In this review, we introduce and discuss various degradation methods that yield substrates for bioconversion and biological upcycling processes to produce value-added biochemicals. These technologies encourage a circular economy, which reduces the amount of waste released into the environment.