Synergistic Dual Catalytic System and Kinetics for the Alcoholysis of Poly(Lactic Acid)

Plastic pollution is a global issue that approaching crisis levels as plastic production projected to reach 1.1 GT annually by 2050. The bioplastic industry along with circular economy are solutions this problem. One promising polylactic acid (PLA) has mechanical properties comparable polystyrene (PS), so it could replace PS in its applications more environmentally sustainable material. However, since the PLA also suffers from long biodegradation times environment, ensure does not add current problem, should instead be chemically recycled. In work, was recycled via alcoholysis, using either methanol or ethanol generate value-added products methyl lactate and ethyl respectively. Two catalysts, zinc acetate dihydrate (ZnAc) 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP), were tested both individually mixtures. A synergistic effect exhibited on reaction rate when catalysts used an equal ratio. methanolysis determined two-step, activation energy estimated 73 kJ mol−1 for first step 40.16 second step. Both cheap commercially available, their exploited large-scale recycling.