Depolymerization of Post-Consumer PET Waste to Produce Polymer Concrete for Rehabilitation Applications

The goal of the proposed research is to recycle PET and eventually other plastic wastes, through depolymerization while avoiding costly purification and color-removal steps, into low-cost and highly durable rapid-setting rehabilitation materials. Successful implementation of the proposed technology will impact two critical issues of our time - infrastructure and the environment - through recycling of some prominent plastic wastes into cost-effective rehabilitation materials with desirable performance characteristics. Phase I research evaluates the technical feasibility and economical viability of developing polymer concrete rehabilitation materials through depolymerizing impure and color post-consumer PET wastes. For this purpose, PET scrap sources and depolymerization process capable of generating unsaturated polyesters with acceptable processability and clear-cast resin characteristics will be identified. Optimum composition of polymer concretes incorporating recycled polyester binder will then be determined based on set characteristics, short-term engineering properties, and cost. Finally, market potentials of recycled polyester concrete will be determined through technical and economical evaluations against conventional rapid-setting rehabilitation materials.