A New Method Can Make Plastics More Environmentally Friendly
A new technique has been developed by researchers that changes polyethylene (PE), the most widely generated plastic, into polypropylene (PP), the second most produced plastics.
Upcycling plastic efficiently to remove waste
The purpose of this process is to decrease greenhouse emissions. “The world needs more and better options for extracting the power and molecular value from its waste plastics,” said Susannah Scott, co-lead author of the study and Distinguished Professor and Mellichamp Chair of Sustainable Catalytic Processing at UC Santa Barbara. This new study was released in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
In the research study, Scott states there is a better way to recycle plastics besides the conventional methods currently being utilized. These typical recycling methods create low-value plastic molecules and offer little incentive to reuse the massive amounts of plastic waste that have formed over the past years.
The solution to this growing problem of synthetic waste formation is “turning polyethylene into propylene, which can after that be used to make a new polymer. This is how we start to build a circular economy for plastics,” said Scott. According to the research, upcycling polyethylene into polypropylene can make this synthetic product into a lasting one. This technique can improve the disposal process of plastics.
The scientists eventually want this technique to produce a recurring cycle of reusability for plastics.
Scalability
The group specified that this method of transforming one material into another more sustainable version shows promise through its “theoretical modeling” and helps to reduce the carbon footprint for the future. The scientist created a structure that allows the team to predict scalability of the project. “We have proved that it can be done experimentally in a way that is scalable and potentially applicable to current industry demands,” said Damien Guironnet, co-lead author and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois.
He specified, “If we are to upcycle a significant fraction of the over 100 million tons of plastic waste we create each year, we require highly scalable solutions.”
The scientists also built a reactor that produces a constant flow of propylene that can be converted into PP easily utilizing current technology, allowing for this discovery to be “scalable and rapidly implementable.” This is significant because the research team eventually wants their findings to be utilized on a larger scale to end pollution around the world.
Although the research has proven to be effective, the scientists would like to produce outcomes at a much faster pace. “Since we have established the proof of concept, we can begin to improve the efficiency of the process by designing quicker and more productive catalysts, making it possible to scale up,” Scott said.
Details and discovery
This research aims to advance the technological approach towards recyclable plastics, specifically turning polyethylene (PE) into polypropylene (PP). In other words, how to eliminate plastic pollution and make it more eco-friendly. The researchers began with the transformation of PE, which makes up 29% of the world’s plastic consumption. They used a catalyst to transform PE into propylene, an ingredient used to create PP, which accounts for about 25% of the plastic used worldwide. This breakthrough study would permit scientists to convert PP into PE, thus creating a recyclable cycle for plastic and reducing plastic pollution.
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