Aussie team's 'cheap' solution to help combat 12.7 million tonne beach problem
More than 90 per cent of the plastic material can be dissolved in just 30 minutes. This is how they achieved the solution.
Aussie researchers have developed a cheap solution to dealing with one of the world’s biggest problems. Recycling plastic is great in theory, but only some types can be easily processed.
Polystyrene has been a tough nut to crack. And that’s been a problem because the lightweight material blows easily in the wind and into our oceans. It’s believed around 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tonnes of plastic enter the ocean every year, killing fish, dolphins and other marine life.
Now a group of chemical engineers at the University of NSW have discovered a process using sunlight, air, and a cheap chemical to break down seven types of polymers into a usable material.
The discovery was published in the journal Macromolecular Rapid Communications after the team managed some amazing results. They’re able to process 90 per cent of the material in less than 30 minutes, and 97 per cent in three hours.
“Our proposal here is to make the simplest system to degrade polymers,” chemical engineer Dr Maxime Michelas said.
“The problem with the previous approach is you need a lot of different things, like electrodes, or co-solvents, or co-initiators, or co-catalysts, so the system is more and more complex. More importantly, the previous system only was able to degrade a limited range of polymers.”
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The process involves treating the plastic with a solvent and then applying ferric chloride, a substance commonly used to remove impurities from water.
Despite warnings, our bodies are now riddled with microplastics, and that plastic ingestion can cause diseases in birds, in the last 24 years Australia has doubled the amount it uses. Alarmingly, it’s expected to double again by 2049.
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“Plastics have brought significant benefit for the world, but this is a monumental issue,” Michelas said.
The scientists now hope to refine their process even further and develop a system that breaks down plastic using water. This would be a more environmentally friendly solution to using solvents.
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