Scientists: We’ve Found the ‘Holy Grail’ of Recycling – IOTW Report

Scientists: We’ve Found the ‘Holy Grail’ of Recycling

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“Most plastics were never made to be recycled,” says lead scientist Peter Christensen in a statement. “But we have discovered a new way to assemble plastics that takes recycling into consideration from a molecular perspective.” Called poly(diketoenamine), or PDK, the new material could help unblock the plastic pileup at recycling plants and ease ocean pollution that could be sucking $2.5 trillion from sectors including fisheries, tourism, and human health, according to one study.

Unlike regular plastic, PDK can apparently be undone by a simple acid bath. “Recovered monomers can be re-manufactured into the same polymer formulation, without loss of performance, as well as other polymer formulations with differentiated properties,” per the study in Nature Chemistry.

19 Comments on Scientists: We’ve Found the ‘Holy Grail’ of Recycling

  1. The right seeks solutions to problems differently than the Left does, it finds solutions to them instead of trying to ban everything they see as the cause of them.

    I imagine there was some right wing thinking somewhere behind this research and development.

    17
  2. NOT SUSTAINABLE!

    Did they take into account poly-differentiation in regards to the osmosis effect if they are using acid that is above P.H. level……alright I just made all that up.

    Have a good day everyone!

    12
  3. Not so fast. Studies show that lab rats who ate plastic made by this process are 1000 times more likely to die of cancer.

    Okay, I just made that up, too.

    7
  4. No surprise at all that a man-made material, created via a process, could be un-made by another process.

    But that would require Science, not legislation, not voodoo hexes, not wishful thinking. A review of the Progress of Mankind reveals the wonders of Science and Technology, leading us to a better, easier, longer lifespan. A review of the sophistry of the “social-sciences” reveals much deceit, wrong-headed initiatives that were ‘walked back’, and litanies of worthless blather.
    Looking to Leftists for real solutions to anything, has never proved worthwhile.

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  5. Mithrandir – you forgot that the acid bath stops the spiral oscinence, thereby breaking up the formation of sugar-polymers in a dodecahedron lattice. So all’s good.

    MTU…also

    4
  6. the process is more efficient if the plastics are first run thru a hyperconductor coolant tube and then thru a flux capacitor.

    I MTSU too

    3
  7. Everything on Earth (with the exception of a few Moon rocks and some couple of hundred pounds of Meteorite stuff) came from Earth.
    It’s (more than less) a closed system.
    A few tons of Hydrogen and Helium escape into space each year, but other than that, what’s here is here, and always has been. “Man-made” is more properly “man-manufactured” or “man-contrived” and everything is “natural” in that sense.
    The building blocks of semi-conductors were here when men were stealing food from crows and dashing each others’ brains out with stones.
    All plastics can be rendered into their constituent parts.
    It’s the price that’s prohibitive.
    Endothermic – Exothermic – blah, blah, blah …

    izlamo delenda est …

    4
  8. Illudium PU-36 has been in existence since the late 40s. Of course, as with any invention that would impact big business and their profits, they have thwarted any further research.

    Illudium PU-36 may be better known by it’s official name, The Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

    And, NO, I didn’t make that up. Really. Ask Marvin if you don’t believe me!

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