One word--plastic.
Posted on 01/20/2005 10:33:06 AM PST by ijcr
US scientists have discovered a way to make plastics from orange peel, using the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Cornell University researchers created a novel polymer using CO2, an oil present in orange peel and a catalyst that speeds the reaction along.
The team hopes CO2 could one day be collected for making plastics instead of being pumped into the atmosphere.
Details of the research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
What's exciting about this work is that from completely renewable resources, we were able to make a plastic with very nice qualities
Limonene is a carbon-based compound that makes up about 95% of the oil in orange peel and is used to give household cleaners their citrus smell.
Geoffrey Coates, a professor of chemistry at Cornell in Ithaca, US, and colleagues used a derivative of this oil called limonene oxide as one of the building blocks for their polymer.
The researchers used a helper molecule, or catalyst, to get the limonene oxide to react with CO2 and form a new polymer called polylimonene carbonate.
This polymer has many of the characteristics of polystyrene, which is used in numerous disposable plastic products.
"Almost every plastic out there, from the polyester in clothing to the plastics used for food packaging and electronics, goes back to the use of petroleum as a building block," said Professor Coates.
"If you can get away from using oil and instead use readily abundant, renewable and cheap resources, then that's something we need to investigate.
"What's exciting about this work is that from completely renewable resources, we were able to make a plastic with very nice qualities."
Coates' team is interested in using carbon dioxide as an alternative building block for polymers in industry. The gas could be isolated and used to produce plastics such as polylimonene oxide.
CO2 is the principal greenhouse gas caused by human activities, and is emitted by fossil fuel burning and deforestation.
So those plastic oranges in the plastic fruit baskets will be made from.... oranges ???
I can't wait for the envirowacko apoplexy. Which do we choose -- more CO2 in the air or more plastic in the landfill?
Shouldn't that be "a navel polymer".......
using the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
This struck me, why use greenhouse as an adjective here? Is the reporter stupid or does he/whe think the readers are?
One word--plastic.
IMHO...If we'd go back to paper rather than plastic and wood furniture, toys, paper grocery bags etc, instead of plastic, we'd be a lot better off. BIODEGRADABLE
Of course, if you remove all of the CO2 from the atmostphere, all of the plants will die, and the Earth will end up looking like a watery Mars.
Give me plastics and plenty of nuclear waste from about 1000 nuclear reactors. And CHEAP electricity.
and start producing cellulose efficiently via the hemp plant versus inefficient means currently used.
Lots of orange peel in the orange juice industry.. and I mean LOTS of it..
The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide? CO2 is a common naturally occurring compound. It has nothing to do with greenhouses.
ML/NJ
"The researchers used a helper molecule, or catalyst..."
Let me guess. The helper molecule that they continue to avoid naming... a hydrocarbon molecule??? Is'nt it amazing the they don't even name the "helper molecule" because it would blow their story out of the water.
BTTT!!!!!!
um...
how much plastic mass from how much biomass, please?
I mean, this is interesting, but if it pans out like ethanol it will not be economically/agriculturally viable as an alternative source for even a small fraction of the mass of plastics used annually.
unlikely.
catalytic agents are usually heavy metals.
in plastics, that is often Platinum.
More bunk. Most CO2 is generated by decaying plants.
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