Extraction of Oligomers From Poly(ethylene terephthalate) by Microwave-assisted Extraction

A rapid, alternative technique for the extraction of low molecular weight oligomers from poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) polymer film is reported. Traditionally, PET has been extracted using liquid–solid Soxhlet extraction but this has proved to be extremely time consuming. In this work, cyclic trimer and other low molecular weight oligomers have been successfully extracted from PET film using microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The use of MAE has been evaluated using a range of organic solvents. The determination and identification of the extracts has been performed using HPLC.