Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new catalytic process that can vaporize the polyethylene (single-use bags) and polypropylene (hard plastics) that dominate trash piles, converting them...
    • Wilzax@lemmy.world
      33·
      15 days ago

      Plastics are only plastics when many separate (often gaseous) molecules called monomers form large chains or webs called polymers. If you vaporize a polymer, it gets reverted to being many monomers

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝English
          21·
          15 days ago

          These specific monomers can be found in nature, and they are widely used in industrial applications beyond making plastics, for example they can fuel welding torches.

          The monomer of PE is the gas ethylene, which is a plant hormone among other things, and if you combine it with hydrogen from water it makes ethanol, which is the kind of alcohol that is only mildly poisonous so we drink it. It’s the easiest way to get alcohol without fermentation, so we use it in industry. So I guess mostly it is.

          Propylene, which is the monomer of polypropylene, is a gas that’s toxic in large concentrations, apparently it’s what makes forest fires poisonous, but it’s fine to have a little bit in the air, and it’s at least not carcinogenic.

          The problem with plastics is not that they are toxic, it’s that we make too much and litter in everywhere, including our own body.

  • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
    15·
    15 days ago

    If it will help us clean up our mess, then great.

    But it’s not going to make it okay to continue churning out disposable plastics. We need the tech and we need to stop.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    5·
    15 days ago

    “Researchers,” meaning there’s no reason to believe this is actually practical and there is no mention of the energy costs. The latter is especially important because as bad as microplastics are, climate change is just as bad, if not worse.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
      5·
      15 days ago

      Everything started as a proof of concept with no practical value at first. Like the transistor.

      I think for me, if we have a way to keep a substantial portion from entering the environment, that’s something.