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New Process to Create More Sustainable, Economically Viable Lifecycles for Plastics
Written by AZoCleantechApr 16 2021
A new chemical process synthesizes useful, biodegradable chemicals, which can be used as detergents and surfactants in a wide variety of applications, from disposed plastics.
Long hydrocarbon chains of polymers are broken into shorter units with the introduction of aluminum end groups. Image Credit: AMES Laboratory.
The process, which was discovered by researchers from the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP), an Energy Frontier Research Center led by Ames Laboratory, has the ability to make more sustainable and economically beneficial lifecycles for plastics.
The focus of the study was to disintegrate polyolefins, which constitute over half of all disposed plastics and consists of almost every kind of product that can be imagined pipe systems, food packaging, toys, fabrics, water bottles, furniture, cars and shoes.
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IMAGE: Long hydrocarbon chains of polymers are broken into shorter units with the introduction of aluminum end groups. view more
Credit: U.S. Department of Energy, Ames Laboratory
Scientists at the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP), an Energy Frontier Research Center led by Ames Laboratory, have discovered a chemical process that provides biodegradable, valuable chemicals, which are used as surfactants and detergents in a range of applications, from discarded plastics. The process has the potential to create more sustainable and economically favorable lifecycles for plastics.
The researchers targeted their work on the deconstruction of polyolefins, which represents more than half of all discarded plastics, and includes nearly every kind of product imaginable toys, food packaging, pipe systems, water bottles, fabrics, shoes, cars, and furniture.
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IMAGE: Illustration of caged lithium ions in a new polymer membrane for lithium batteries. Scientists at Berkeley Lab s Molecular Foundry used a drug-discovery toolbox to design the selective membranes. The technology. view more
Credit: Artem Baskin/Berkeley Lab
Membranes that allow certain molecules to quickly pass through while blocking others are key enablers for energy technologies from batteries and fuel cells to resource refinement and water purification. For example, membranes in a battery separating the two terminals help to prevent short circuits, while also allowing the transport of charged particles, or ions, needed to maintain the flow of electricity.
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