Plastic is one of the world's biggest pollutants. But a new scientific discovery could transform the industry and its environmental footprint by capturing carbon dioxide from the air and using that to create plastic.
A team of Caltech researchers recently published its findings, which showed that carbon dioxide can be transformed using renewable electricity into compounds like ethylene and carbon monoxide.
Through further chemical reactions, those compounds can be turned into plastics known as polyketones. These industrial-strength plastics are durable enough to be used in adhesives, car parts, piping, and more.
Although the process needs considerable refinement and further testing before it can be ready for widespread use, the initial findings have researchers excited that they could turn harmful gases into something useful.
"I think that is something that we, as a society, would be interested in," Caltech Professor of Chemistry Theo Agapie said in a release. "With our new work, we have taken a significant step in that direction."
Currently, more than 430 million tons of plastic are produced each year, with much of it discarded after just one use.
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A lot of that waste breaks off into tiny particles called microplastics, which are seemingly everywhere on our planet — from our oceans to our food and water to human brains.
But it's not just plastic waste that causes environmental problems. The burning of fossil fuels needed to create plastic results in tons of greenhouse gases being released into the environment. These are the very gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, causing our planet to warm at record rates.
As plastic production increases, so will its environmental impact. The Center for International Environmental Law projects that, by 2050, plastic's greenhouse gas emissions could surpass 56 billion tons.
That makes this Caltech research not just exciting but potentially vital for our planet's future. Many scientists have worked on ways to make plastic cleaner, but this method may be the first that creates ethylene from carbon dioxide, instead of petroleum-based products.
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"By demonstrating that it's possible, we might increase the amount of interest in this field, and maybe people can build upon this principle," researcher Max Zhelyabovskiy said.
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