Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Aug 7;30(15):3302.
doi: 10.3390/molecules30153302.

Photodegradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate and Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) Terephthalate Using Excimer Lamps and Hydrogen Peroxide: A Strategy for PET-Derived Waste Treatment

Ángel Navarro-García  1 , María Gómez  1 , María D Murcia  1 , Elisa Gómez  1 , Asunción M Hidalgo  1 , Luis A Dorado  1 , Josefa Bastida  1
Affiliations

Photodegradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate and Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) Terephthalate Using Excimer Lamps and Hydrogen Peroxide: A Strategy for PET-Derived Waste Treatment

Ángel Navarro-García et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a widely used polymer whose accumulation in the environment poses a significant pollution challenge. This study explores the degradation of bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) and terephthalic acid (TPA)-two monomers commonly produced during PET hydrolysis and widely used as intermediates in PET recycling-through Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) employing KrCl (222 nm) and XeBr (283 nm) excimer lamps in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The effects of the H2O2/monomer mass ratio, initial monomer concentrations, and reaction volume on degradation efficiency were systematically evaluated. The results demonstrate that excimer lamp technology, particularly KrCl, holds promising potential for the effective degradation of both BHET and TPA, and thus represents a viable strategy for PET waste treatment.

Keywords: advanced oxidation; bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate; excimer radiation; microplastic; polyethylene terephthalate; terephthalic acid.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PET synthesis process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Conversion rates of TPA obtained for each lamp with varying H2O2:TPA mass ratios, [TPA]0 = 100 mg/L, VR = 250 mL, for the (a) KrCl lamp; and (b) XeBr lamp.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Conversion rates of BHET with different H2O2:BHET mass ratios, [BHET]0 = 100 mg/L, VR = 250 mL, for the KrCl lamp: (a) 120 min of reaction; and (b) first 30 min of the reaction.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Conversion rates of BHET with different H2O2:BHET mass ratios, [BHET]0 = 100 mg/L, VR = 250 mL, for the XeBr lamp: (a) 120 min of reaction; and (b) first 30 min of the reaction.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Conversion rates of TPA obtained for each lamp with varying initial TPA concentrations, H2O2:TPA mass ratio 3:1, VR = 250 mL, for the (a) KrCl lamp; and (b) XeBr lamp.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Conversion rates of BHET obtained for each lamp with varying initial BHET concentrations, VR = 250 mL: (a) H2O2:BHET mass ratio 5:1 for the KrCl lamp; and (b) H2O2:BHET mass ratio 4:1 for the XeBr lamp.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Conversion rates of TPA obtained for each lamp with varying reaction volumes, H2O2:TPA mass ratio 3:1, [TPA]0 = 100 mg/L for the (a) KrCl lamp; and (b) XeBr lamp.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Conversion rates of BHET obtained for each lamp with varying reaction volumes, [BHET]0 = 100 mg/L: (a) H2O2:BHET mass ratio 5:1 for the KrCl lamp; and (b) H2O2:BHET mass ratio 4:1 for the XeBr lamp.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Chemical oxygen demand after irradiation of samples with different H2O2/monomer mass ratios of (a) TPA and (b) BHET.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Chromatograms for KrCl excilamp: (a) BHET and (b) TPA.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Conversion of TPA and BHET as a function of fluence (UV dose) for the KrCl (222 nm) lamp and the XeBr (283 nm) lamp for the mass ratio H2O2/monomer optimal assays: (5:1) for BHET with the KrCl lamp, (4:1) for BHET with the XeBr lamp, and (3:1) for TPA with both lamps.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Experimental setup. Borosilicate glass beaker placed on a magnetic stirrer with an excimer lamp positioned 3 cm above the surface of the reaction solution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. CSIC Combatir La Contaminación Por Plásticos. 2023. [(accessed on 4 May 2025)]. Available online: https://www.idaea.csic.es/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Ciencia-para-las-po....
    1. Zhang Q., Wang X., Chen Y., Song G., Zhang H., Huang K., Luo Y., Cheng N. Discovery and solution for microplastics: New risk carriers in food. Food Chem. 2025;471:142784. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142784. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dhaka V., Singh S., Anil A.G., Sunil Kumar Naik T.S., Garg S., Samuel J., Kumar M., Ramamurthy P.C., Singh J. Occurrence, Toxicity and Remediation of Polyethylene Terephthalate Plastics. A Review. Environ. Chem. Lett. 2022;20:1777–1800. doi: 10.1007/s10311-021-01384-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ho K.L., Yeap S.P., Lee K.M. critical review of microplastics and nanoplastics in wastewater: Insights into adsorbent-based remediation strategies. Environ. Pollut. 2025;382:126658. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126658. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yoshida S., Hiraga K., Takehana T., Taniguchi I., Yamaji H., Maeda Y., Toyohara K., Miyamoto K., Kimura Y., Oda K. A bacterium that degrades and assimilates poly(ethylene terephthalate) Science. 2016;351:1196–1199. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6359. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources