The era of mixed plastic waste may end before sorting. Passion weapon? A cheap incentive made of nickel targets one of the most problematic polymers. The results were detailed in a study published on September 2 in the magazine Nature’s chemistry.
Even after decades of efforts around the world, plastic recycling is still much easier than doing it. Decreased reality thanks to a group of polympins. Humans are manufactured 220 million tons Among the products based on poly Oilin every year, most of them are the elements of one use such as spices bottles, milk jugs, plastic cover, garbage bags, and juice vehicles.
“Basically, almost everything in your refrigerator depends on poly Olivein,” a author who participated at the University of North Western Yossi Kratish He said in a statement.
Plastic materials are usually divided Using incentives-Compounds is able to exploit weak chemical bonds to start decomposing materials that take hundreds or thousands of years to deteriorate.
We are annually Recycling less than 10 percent One of the products of polyupin, which led to mountains of waste designated either to the landfill or industrial ovens. This is because while other plastic materials are usually divided with stimuli, polyupins is a different story. These flexible polymers resist corrosion due to the small molecules associated with difficult carbon bonds.
“The urine has no weak bonds. Every bond is incredibly strong and chemical interaction,” said Kratish.
Our current solutions are not “solutions” like Stopgaps. Polyffin products can be torn, melted and retreated into low -quality plastic pellets, but even then there are warnings. Separation of a person is still necessary, and even the smallest amounts of food residue or non -plastic materials can display a full boost. Meanwhile, burning ullemins requires temperatures up to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Everything can be burned, of course.” “If you apply enough energy, you can convert anything to carbon dioxide and water. But we wanted to find an elegant way to add minimal energy to extract the product of the maximum value.”
The potential solution may be present in the hydrogen dissolution, a process in which a mixture of hydrogen gas and a disassembled urine plastic disassembled to hydrocarbons is actually beneficial. Current hydrogen decay options also include high temperatures and expensive mineral stimuli stimuli, but the Kratish team found a solution.
Unlike rare ground minerals such as palladium and platinum, engineers have discovered that the Nickel Nickel -Nickel’s alternative is cheap, abundant, and easy to freeze. Other Nickel -based incentives include multiple reaction sites. The single -location variable allows the nickel to work more similar to the exact laser or sharp knife. Instead of breaking all plastic structure, this option specifically targets flexible carbon bonds at a much lower temperature and with half of hydrogen gas pressure. The new catalyst is so stable that it maintains nefarious and subjective plastic materials like PVC.
“Add PVC to the recycling mixture was always prohibited. But it seems that it makes our process better,” said Kratish. “This is crazy. It is definitely not something that anyone expects.”
If it is proven that it can be developed and effective, the new catalyst can significantly eliminate the need for strenuous plastic swelling while significantly reduces the amount of fine plastic launched in the environment every day.