Breakthrough polymer to make plastic infinitely recyclable
June 6, 2018Polymer plastic infinitely recyclable Colorado State University chemists have discovered a polymer that can be infinitely recycled without intensive procedures in a laboratory or using toxic chemicals.This polymer is strong, heat resistant, durable and lightweight.
Colorado State University chemists have discovered a polymer that can be infinitely recycled without intensive procedures in a laboratory or using toxic chemicals.This polymer is strong, heat resistant, durable and lightweight.
It is a major step in making materials that are sustainable and waste-free.Polymers are characterized by chains of chemically bonded molecules called monomers. a monomer can be polymerized in environmentally friendly conditions: “solvent-free, at room temperature, with just a few minutes of reaction time and only a trace amount of catalyst.” The material created in this process possesses mechanical properties “that perform very much like a plastic.” said professor Eugene Chen in 2015.
With the help of catalysts, the polymer can be recycled. In the breakthrough journal ‘science’ scientists envision a future with green plastics that can be “simply placed in a reactor and, in the chemical parlance, de-polymerized to recover their value — not possible for today’s petroleum plastics.” “This would bring the material back to its chemical starting point, so it could be utilized again and again and again,” Chen added.
