The hottest plastic synthesis will also enter the

Plastic synthesis will also enter the green world

do you still think that plastic is not environmentally friendly? Are you still struggling with how to produce sustainable plastics? Let's learn about the new research results on the environmental protection of plastics

it is estimated that by 2050, the global demand for polymers such as plastics will increase fourfold, reaching about onebillion tons per year. However, at present, the petrochemical production cost used in plastic production is huge and has an impact on the environment

recently, European researchers reported the first synthetic method of polyester that is brittle and completely renewable: Lucia gardossi from the University of Trieste in Italy and her team have entered the list of 2017 national technological innovation demonstration enterprises published by the Ministry of industry and information technology and the Ministry of finance, and produced renewable polyester with enzyme catalyzed polymers. Researchers pay special attention to the sustainability of this substance in the research process

gardossi said, "we chose the biological monomer produced by microbial fermentation of sugar as the raw material, and fixed the enzyme (a biodegradable protein) on the rice hull as the catalyst for polymerization." In addition to using renewable raw materials and catalysts, researchers have also successfully achieved that latex samples without such thickness can be stretched for a long time with only a small force value. Solvent polymerization is required, and the reaction can be completed at 50 ° C. similar reactions usually require metal catalysis at 150 ° C

after in-depth research and calculation, gardossi's team selected thermobifida cellulosilytica (thc_cut1), which can convert acetic acid and 1,4 butanediol into polyester. Gardossi said, "we use novel bioinformatics methods to select enzymes scientifically and reasonably, and optimize the production process of enzymes through multivariate statistical methods."

Thomas farmer, an expert in sustainable chemistry at the University of York in the UK, praised the 'overall analysis' method used by the gardossi team. This is nothing mysterious, but too many researchers often only specialize in one aspect to optimize the synthesis process, in order to obtain the environmental protection certification for the implementation and industrialization of green synthesis all over the country. Thomas added, "this research includes biologically induced monomers and solvent-free conditions, which is a typical example of how green chemistry can be cleverly applied in all aspects of production. Exploration and efforts like this will promote the future of truly sustainable polymers."