@Article{JRM.2014.634112,
AUTHOR = {David Grewell, Gowrishankar Srinivasan, Eric Cochran},
TITLE = {Depolymerization of Post-Consumer Polylactic Acid  Products},
JOURNAL = {Journal of Renewable Materials},
VOLUME = {2},
YEAR = {2014},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {157--165},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/jrm/v2n3/49630},
ISSN = {2164-6341},
ABSTRACT = {Presented in this study is a novel recycling strategy for poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in which the depolymerization 
is rapidly promoted by the base-catalyzed hydrol-/alcohol-ysis of the terminal ester bonds under mild 
conditions. Post-consumer PLA water bottles were cut into approximately 6 x 2 mm plastic chips and heated 
to 50–60o
C in water, ethanol, or methanol as the depolymerization medium. A variety of carbonate salts and 
alkaline metal oxides were screened as potential catalysts. High-power ultrasound was also investigated as 
a means to accelerate the PLA decomposition. Both mass loss and HPLC analysis of the treated suspensions 
showed that the conversion of PLA to lactic acid/lactic esters was achieved with yields over 90% utilizing 
either ultrasonics or a hot bath. It was found that the most rapid decomposition occurred in solution of 
sodium hydroxide in methanol at 50o
C, in which maximum depolymerization was complete in 5 min. It was 
also seen that the degree of crystallinity affected the rate of depolymerization.},
DOI = {10.7569/JRM.2014.634112}
}