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Vaporizing Plastics Recycles Them Into Nothing But Gas, Researchers Find
Polypropylene and polyethylene plastics "can be recycled," reports Ars Technica. But as "polyolefin" polymers, "the process can be difficult and often produces large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane. "Now, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a method of...
"Now, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a method of recycling these polymers that uses catalysts that easily break their bonds, converting them into propylene and isobutylene, which are gasses at room temperature. Using sodium on alumina followed by tungsten oxide on silica proved much more economical and effective, even though the high temperatures required for the reaction added a bit to the cost. They were exposed to a stream of ethylene gas flowing into a reaction chamber while being introduced to tungsten oxide on silica, which resulted in the breakage of the carbon-carbon bonds.
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