{"id":104989,"date":"2022-02-21T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=104989"},"modified":"2022-02-17T13:42:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T12:42:22","slug":"creating-a-better-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/creating-a-better-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Better Plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"UNC
UNC scientists have developed a radical method to give a second life to single-use plastic by “upcycling” them into newer higher-value material. (Photo: Jon Gardiner) \u00a9 UNC News<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The United States generates more plastic trash than any other country \u2013 about 46.3 million tons of it \u2014 or 287 pounds per person a year,\u00a0according to a 2020 study<\/a>. The country\u2019s\u00a09% rate of recycling<\/a>\u00a0will never keep up. Why so low? The chemistry of today\u2019s plastics makes most difficult to recycle. Even thermoplastics that can be melted down weaken with each re-use. And that leads to the real barrier to recycling \u2013 economics. There\u2019s just no profit incentive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now a group of chemists at the\u00a0University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/a>\u00a0have turned the tables by discovering a method to break down plastics to create a new material that is stronger and tougher than the original \u2013 meaning it\u2019s potentially more valuable.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur approach views plastic waste as a potentially valuable resource for the production of new molecules and materials,\u201d said\u00a0Frank Leibfarth<\/strong><\/a>, assistant professor of chemistry in the\u00a0UNC College of Arts & Sciences<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cWe hope this method could drive an economic incentive to recycle plastic, literally turning trash into treasure.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Carolina chemists Frank Leibfarth and Erik Alexanian collaborate on method to upcycle plastic. \u00a9 UNC News<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Leibfarth and UNC-Chapel Hill professor Erik Alexanian<\/a>, who specializes in chemical synthesis, describe the approach that could close the loop on plastic recycling in the journal Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon-hydrogen bonds are some of the strongest chemical bonds in nature. The stability makes it difficult to turn natural products into medicines and challenging to recycle commodity plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by modifying the carbon-hydrogen bonds that are common in polymers, the building blocks for modern plastic used in grocery bags, soda and water bottles, food packaging, auto parts and toys, the life span of polymers could be expanded beyond single-use plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a newly identified reagent that could strip hydrogen atoms off medicinal compounds and polymers, the UNC chemists were able to make new bonds in places previously considered unreactive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe versatility of our approach is that it enables many valuable transformations of carbon-hydrogen bonds on such a wide range of important compounds,\u201d Alexanian said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Turning trash into treasure<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Leibfarth Group<\/a> at Carolina is focused on designing polymers that are smarter, more functional and more sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the support of the NC Policy Collaboratory, the team developed a super-absorbent polymer capable of removing dangerous chemicals from drinking water<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers envisioned using the innovative approach to help transform difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into a high-value class of polymers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A UNC-Chapel Hill team, from left, Frank Leibfarth, Erik Alexanian, Eliza Neidhart and Austin Miller, collaborated on a method to modify traditionally unreactive carbon\u2013hydrogen bonds to develop easier to recycle polymers. Not pictured Timothy Fazekas and Jill W. Alty \u00a9 UNC News<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

They started with plastic foam packaging used to protect electronics during shipping that otherwise ends up in landfills. Samples of post-consumer foam were provided by High Cube LLC<\/a>, a Durham, N.C., recycling company. The foam is made of a low-density plastic called a commercial polyolefin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By selectively pulling hydrogen atoms from polyolefin, the chemists came up with a way to expand the life of the single-use plastic into a high-value plastic known as an ionomer. Popular ionomers are Dow\u2019s SURLYNTM<\/sup>, a go-to material used in a wide variety of food packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recycled plastic is \u201cdowncycled\u201d into lower quality products like carpet or polyester clothing, that may still end up in landfills. Discarded plastics in waterways endanger sea life if turtles mistake ocean plastic for food<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if the chemistry can be repeatedly applied to polymers to help recycle them over and over again, \u201cit could change the way we look at plastic,\u201d Leibfarth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study co-authors include Timothy Fazekas, Jill W. Alty, Eliza K. Neidhart and Austin S. Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation and the UNC Department of Chemistry funded the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original publication<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n