Recycling of waste PET for functionalised textile finishing

Abstract

The glycolysis of waste bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has been carried out at 190oC for 8 h with sodium acetate catalyst. Products of reaction are then characterised by spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and calorimetry. The bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET) obtained from the reaction is formulated using an emulsifying and dispersing agent and further utilised as an antistatic finishing chemical for imparting functional effect on polyester textile. The application has been performed by padding polyester fabric with a solution containing antistatic agents of different concertations (10, 20 and 40 g/L), followed by drying at 110° C for 60 s and then thermoset at 170°C for 40 s. The treated fabric is compared with a commercial antistatic agent for functional performance and then evaluated in terms of absorbency, wicking height, charge decay time, and hand feel. The results show that the fabric finished with 20 g/L BHET based formulation performs better than the commercial antistatic agent finished fabric, and the waste PET bottles can be effectively utilised as a textile finishing chemical.