Kinetics and mechanisms of polyethyleneglycol fragmentation by ozone in aqueous solution

The oxidative fragmentation of Polyethyleneglycol by ozone is investigated by means of batch and semibatch ozonation experiments in the pH range 4.0–9.0. Chemical mechanisms and reaction kinetics of the ozonation processes are determined by also exploiting chemical information from experiments on Diethyleneglycol and Ethyleneglycol ozonation. A kinetic model is proposed capable of describing the fragmentation process due to the direct polymer oxidation by ozone.