Recycling of Used Bottle Grade Poly Ethyleneterephthalate to Nanofibers by Melt-electrospinning Method

Abstract

Used PET bottles disposal is an unsolved environmental problem, and there are many efforts for finding an applicable solution for it. Many researches have showed that the degradation rate of the polymers increase with the smaller size of fibers. This work was carried out to convert used PET bottles into nanofibers by melt-electrospinning method. Uncolored, washed and chipped PET bottles and the PET granule was used for experiments. The temperature of melted PET at extruder nozzle and spinning area were set in the range of 245-255 °C and 200-235 °C respectively. The melting point of the polymer was determined by DSC. The potential difference was fixed at 25 kV and the distance between the nozzle and the collector were 3-9 cm. The morphology and fineness of produced fibers investigated by SEM. Although the producing fibers were not completely in the rang of nano-size fibers, but the results have showed that the nanofibers with diameter between 61- 93 nm can be achieved by the melt-electro spinning method. Comparing the effects of different flow rates of melting polymer as well as the distance between the nozzle to the collector have shown more proportion of finer fibers in flow rate less than 0.1 mL/min and the distance in the range of 3-5 cm. It was concluded however the melt electrospinning production of nanofibers has some difficulties but it can be considered as an applicable and environmental friendly way to recycling the used PET bottles so it can prevent more pollution of the environment.