Method Turns Discarded Plastic into Surfactants

摘要

Scientists discovered a chemical process that provides biodegradable, valuable chemicals from discarded plastics to be used as surfactants and detergents in a range of applications. The process has the potential to create more sustainable and economically favorable lifecy-cles for plastics.The researchers targeted their work on the deconstruction of polyolefins, which represent more than half of all discarded plastics and includes nearly every kind of product - toys, food packaging, pipe systems, water bottles, fabrics, shoes, cars, and furniture.The chemical construction of poly-olefin plastics — long, strong chains of carbon-carbon bonds — makes them tough and durable and also makes them hard to break down. Polyolefins also generally lack the chemical groups that could be targeted in deconstruction processes. Many existing processes to recycle plastic result in less valuable, less usable components, making the economic feasibility of recycling far less appealing.