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DISSOLUTION OF POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET)
BY USING SOLVENTS.
MUHAMMAD ZUL HELMI BIN MD JALANI
A thesis submitted in the fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of degree of
Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical)
Faculty of Chemical Engineering
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
JANUARY 2013
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I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion, this thesis is
sufficient in terms of scope and quality for purpose to be awarded the Degree of
Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical)
Signature :……………………………………………
Name of Supervisor : DR. TUAN AMRAN TUAN ABDULLAH
Date : 14 JANUARY 2013
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I declare that this thesis entitled “Dissolution of Polyethylene Terephthalate by Using
Solvents” is the result of my own research except as cited in the references. This
thesis has not been accepted for any other degree and is not concurrently submitted
in candidature of any other degree
Signature :…………………………………………………
Name : MUHAMMAD ZUL HELMI BIN MD
JALANI
Date : 14th
JANUARY 2013
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Special devotion to my beloved father and mother,
‘En. Md Jalani Md Zain' and ‘Pn. Norsiah Darus',
whom are always give me alimentation and self-respect.
To my family thank you so much,
for most helping and giving me moral support to complete this thesis successfully.
Lastly, to all my lecturers and friends whom are always at my side,
helping me and aiding me all of the time,
thank you so much and be indebted for everything
and I love all of you very much.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah for blessing me with health, contingency and good
fortune for me to complete this project flourishingly. First and foremost, I would like to
express my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Tuan Amran Tuan
Abdullah for his time and invaluable guidance and support.
I would like to acknowledge to my friends because they encouraging me along this
project. Furthermore, it would be an honour to thank technician of Chemical
Reaction Laboratory, Mr. Bidin, in providing all the technical support during the
experiment.
Last but not least, to my parent Md Jalani Bin Md Zain and Norsiah Binti Darus,
thank you for the support, their love, encouragement and inspiration. It would be
hardly possible for me to finish this thesis without their love and moral support.
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ABSTRACT
Plastic-made materials are widely used everywhere in the world, both direct
and in-direct usage. The most commonly used plastics include poly vinyl chloride
(PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PTEG)
and others. Plastic can be distinguished by the structure of the polymer or by using
resin code. The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of solvents
toward the PET dissolution. Fifteen solvent such as phenol, methanol and sulphuric
acid were tested regarding the solubility of PET. Among all, phenol and sulphuric
acid were found to be able to dissolve the PET. The experiment was carried out using
heating block and some other techniques such as filtration. There are 3 parameters
involved, which are temperature, concentration of solvents and total surface area of
polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The experimental optimization and analysis was
determined by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and calculated using
MINITAB. The result showed that phenol has a better dissolution towards PET, and
the optimum condition in this study at temperature of 112.5 0C, concentration of
11.37 M and the surface area of 0.2 cm2.
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ABSTRAK
Bahan-bahan perbuatan plastik digunakan secara meluas di merata tempat di
dunia tidak kira secara langsung mahupun penggunaan secara tidak langsung. Antara
plastik yang biasa digunakan adalah poli vinil klorida (PVC), polietilena
terephthalate (PET), polietilena terephthalate glikol (PTEG) dan lain-lain. Plastik
boleh dibezakan dengan struktur polimer atau dengan menggunakan kod resin.
Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengkaji kesan pelarut terhadap pelarutan PET.
Lima belas pelarut seperti fenol, methanol dan asid sulfurik telah diuji untuk
melarutkan PET. Kajian mendapati bahawa fenol dan asik sulfurik mampu
melarutkan PET. Eksperimen ini telah dijalankan menggunakan blok pemanasan dan
beberapa teknik lain seperti penapisan. Terdapat 3 parameter yang terlibat dalam
eksperimen ini iaitu suhu, kepekatan pelarut dan jumlah luas permukaan
polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Pengoptimuman dan analisis eksperimen telah
ditentukan dengan menggunakan kaedah Response Surface Methodology (RSM) dan
dikira menggunakan MINITAB. Fenol mempunyai pembubaran yang lebih baik dan
kajian mendapati bahawa keadaan optimum dalam kajian ini adalah pada suhu 112.5
℃, kepekatan 11.37 M dan kawasan potongan 0.2 cm2.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xi
LIST OF GRAPHS xv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xix
LIST OF SYMBOLS xiv
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study 1
1.2 Problem Statement 5
1.3 Objective of the Study 6
1.4 Scope of the Study 6
1.5 Significant of the Study 6
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2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) 7
2.2 Solvent 9
2.2.1 Summarize of polymer and solvents 10
2.3 Experimental Design 12
2.3.1 Randomization Design 13
2.3.2 Size Reduction 14
2.3.3 Heating Block 14
2.3.4 Filtration Process 16
2.4 Chart and Mathematical Equation 17
2.4.1 Effect of parameters by using Pareto Chart 18
2.4.2 Percentage of yield 19
2.5 Software Approach 19
2.5.1 Response Surface Method (RSM) 20
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 22
3.2 Materials 23
3.3 Apparatus 23
3.4 Experimental Procedure 25
3.5 Procedure 26
3.6 Parameter Investigated 30
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4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Solvent Screening 32
4.2 Experimental Result 33
4.2.1 Sulphuric Acid 33
4.2.2 Phenol (1-22) 34
4.2.3 Phenol (23-31) 36
4.3 Study Parameters Effects 37
4.3.1 Temperature 37
4.3.2 Concentration 39
4.3.3 Surface Area 40
4.4 Optimization : Reaction Surface Methodology (RSM) 42
4.4.1 Respond Surface Plot 42
4.4.2 Pareto Chart 52
4.4.3 Observed Versus Predicted Values 55
4.5 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) 59
4.5.1 ANOVA Analysis of Sulphuric Acid ( 15 replicate) 59
4.5.2 ANOVA Analysis of Phenol (replicate 1 to replicate 15) 60
4.5.3 ANOVA Analysis of Phenol (replicate 23 to replicate 31) 60
5 CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion 62
5.2 Recommendation 63
REFERENCES 64
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