• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.147-157
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• 2022

This study assessed the compressive and tensile strengths and modulus of elasticity of waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using the ASTM standard tests. In addition, short carbon and glass fibers were mixed with waste PET to examine the improvements in ductility and strength during compression. The bonding was examined via field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The strength degradation of the waste PET tested under UV was 40-50%. However, it had a compressive strength of 32.37 MPa (equivalent to that of concrete), tensile strength of 31.83 MPa (approximately ten times that of concrete), and a unit weight of 12-13 kN/m3 (approximately half that of concrete). A finite element analysis showed that, compared with concrete, a waste PET pile foundation can support approximately 1.3 times greater loads. Mixing reinforcing fibers with waste PET further mitigated this, thereby extending ductility. Waste PET holds excellent potential for use in foundation piles, especially while mitigating brittleness using short reinforcing fibers and avoiding UV degradation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.707-711
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• 2019

The feasibility of waste concrete as a catalyst for the effective pyrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was examined using thermogravimetric (TG) and pyrolyzer-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) analyses. TG analysis results indicated that the maximum decomposition temperature of PET is not altered by the use of waste concrete, showing similar values (407 ℃ and 408 ℃ at 5 ℃/min). Meanwhile, the volatile product distribution data obtained from the Py-GC/MS analysis revealed that the use of waste concrete promoted the deoxygenation reaction via converting the oxygen containing products such as benzoic acids, benzoates, and terephthalates to valuable deoxygenated aromatic hydrocarbons including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and styrene. This suggests that the waste concrete can be used as a potential catalyst for the production of valuable aromatic hydrocarbons from PET pyrolysis.

• Magazine of RCR
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.23-25
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• 2021

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2015

Plastic wastes, particularly polyethylene terephthalate (PET) generated from used bottled water constitute a worldwide environmental issue. Reusing the PET waste for geotechnical applications not only reduces environmental burdens of handling the waste, but also improves inherent engineering properties of soil. This paper investigated factors affecting shear strength improvement of PET-mixed residual soil. Four variables were considered: (i) plastic content; (ii) plastic slenderness ratio; (iii) plastic size; and (iv) soil particle size. A series of unconfined compression tests were performed to determine the optimum configurations for promoting the shear strength improvement. The results showed that the optimum slenderness ratio and PET content for shear strength improvement were 1:3 and 1.5%, respectively. Large PET pieces (i.e., $1.0cm^2$) were favorable for fine-grained residual soil, while small PET pieces (i.e., $0.5cm^2$) were favorable for coarse-grained residual soil. Higher shear strength improvement was obtained for PET-mixed coarse-grained residual soil (148%) than fine-grained residual soils (117%). The orientation of plastic pieces in soil and frictional resistance developed between soil particles and PET surface are two important factors affecting the shear strength performance of PET-mixed soil.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.461-467
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• 2021

Polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) from bottle waste and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) from barrels and tanks waste are widely available and need to be recycled. Recycling them in concrete and mortar is an alternative solution for their disposal. In this study various quantities of sand (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) were substituted by powder from LLDPE waste. In addition, PET waste fibers (corrugated, straight) were added to the mortar with different percentages (0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2%) of cement mass. This paper evaluate the mechanical and physical properties of the composites in fresh (workability, air content and density) and hardened state (compressive and flexural strength, water absorption and total shrinkage). From the experimental results, it can be concluded that the strengthening in tensile of the mortar with plastic waste corrugated fibers is improved. Other important results are that the water absorption and the density rate are less than that of the ordinary mortar.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.603-608
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• 2019

Plastic waste is becoming a problem in various countries because of the difficulty of natural decomposition. One type is PET plastic(Polyethylene Terephthalate), which is often used as a bottle for soft drink packaging, and LDPE(Low Density Polyethylene), which is also widely used as a food or beverage packaging material. The use of these two types of plastic continuously, without good recycling, will have a negative impact on the environment. Building material waste is also becoming a serious environmental problem. This study aims to provide a solution to the problem of the above plastic waste and building material waste by making them into a mixture to be used as bricks. Research is carried out by mixing both materials, namely plastic heated at a temperature of $180-220^{\circ}C$ and building material waste that had been crushed and sized to 30-40 mesh with homogeneous stirring. The ratios of PET and LDPE plastic to building material waste are 9 : 1, 8 : 2, 7 : 3, 6 : 4 and 5 : 5. After heating and printing, density, water absorption and compressive strength tests are carried out. Addition of PET and LDPE plastic can increase compressive strength, and reduce water absorption, porosity and density. A maximum compressive strength of 10.5 MPa is obtained at the ratio of 6 : 4.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2012

This paper reviews recent technologies for recycling poly (ethylene terephthalate) wastes. Wide application and non-biodegradability of the PET creates huge amounts of waste and disposal, leading to an environmental problem and economic loss. Chemical recycling can be a promising technology to deal with these problems by converting the waste into useful feedstock material for polyester production. Chemical recycling of polyethylene terephthalate are processes where the PET polymer chain is destructed by the impact of glycol (MEG) causing glycolysis, methanol causing methanolysis or water causing hydrolysis. After intensive purification polyester oligomers or the monomers MEG, dimethyl telephthalate (DMT) or purified terephthalic acid (PTA) are received which are re-used to produce polyester products.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.441-444
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• 2003

Polymer concrete has more useful than cement concrete in the strength and durability. So, it is widely utilizing as panel for wall, manhole for communication, foundation and underground connection box, etc. But polymer concrete is a defect that is disadvantageous in economical aspect because cost of resin is expensive. Polymer concrete (PC) using unsaturated polyester resins based on recycled polyethylene terephthalate(PET) plastic waste were used in our study for grasping its mechanical properties such as compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength and chemical resistance was tested by dealing with 20% HCl, 30% NaOH. As a result of it, compressive, tensile and flexural strength of PC indicated 752kgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$, 80kgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$ and 243kgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$ kind of satisfaction successively. Also, properties of chemical resistance are superior to those of cement concrete.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.592-596
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• 2001

A TACUB jig was applied to separate waste plastics [polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)] used in copy machine. The effect of water pulsation including amplitude and frequency on the separation performance was investigated for the feeds containing two or three plastics. Good results are obtained under suitable conditions. Grades of 99.8% PS,99.3% ABS, and 98.6% PET are recovered as the products in the upper, middle and bottom layers respectively. Based on these results, a processing plant fer recycling of plastics from scrapped copy machines is now under construction.