Sugary Recipe Boosts Grow-Your-Own Plastics

摘要

Motorists aren't alone in feeling the pain of rising oil prices. Some commodity chemicals, such as the polypropylene that's found in everything from textiles to dashboards, have tripled in price in the past few years. That surge has spurred new interest in the once-sleepy field of converting crops and other renewable feedstocks into commodity chemicals. Chemical companies have made progress in recent years. But up to now, it has been difficult and costly to make the kinds of compounds that serve as starting materials for most oil-derived chemicals. Now, work by researchers in the United States may give plant-derived chemicals a new push.