The future of plastics recycling

Garcı́a, Jeannette M.; Robertson, Megan L.

doi:10.1126/science.aaq0324

Cited by 801 publications

(632 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…These results provide evidence for the proposed photoreduction and thermal oxidation mechanism. More importantly, our approach is a novel and alternative strategy for recycling thermosetting materials …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polar‐Functionalized, Crosslinkable, Self‐Healing, and Photoresponsive Polyolefins

Zou

Chen

2019

Angewandte Chemie

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The nonpolar nature of polyolefins is one of their biggest limitations. Now, an efficient route to generate polar‐functionalized, crosslinkable, self‐healing, photoresponsive polyolefins with thermoplastic, elastomeric, and thermosetting properties is reported. Tunable amounts of carboxylic acid and a cyclic comonomer are installed onto polyolefins by palladium‐catalyzed terpolymerization reactions. The incorporated carboxylic acid unit can alter the surface properties of polyolefins. The subsequently introduced Fe3+/citric acid combination induces dynamic crosslinking and enables self‐healing. Under UV light irradiation, citric acid reduces Fe3+ to Fe2+ and decreases the crosslinking density. The Fe2+ moiety can be easily oxidized back to Fe3+, making the process reversible at the expense of citric acid. The incorporated cyclic comonomer modulates the crystallinity of polyolefins, provides elastic properties, and installs carbon–carbon double bonds for sulfur‐induced vulcanization.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polar‐Functionalized, Crosslinkable, Self‐Healing, and Photoresponsive Polyolefins

Zou

Chen

2019

Angewandte Chemie

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“…Practically, only poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polyethylenes (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE) are recycled by a mechanical process. All other plastic wastes are either not recovered or their recovery rate is less than 1% with regard to their total production …”

Section: Plastic Waste Management: Current State and Conventional Metmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other chemical recycling methods involves photodegradation, ultrasound degradation, degradation in microwave reactor, etc. Despite all its advantages, unfortunately, chemical recycling is not a widespread method, mainly because of energy costs . Numerous methods of chemical recycling to obtain valuable chemicals such as monomers, petrochemicals or additives from the used polymeric materials are under investigation presently, and sustainable conditions for these processes are under extensive research.…”

Section: Plastic Waste Management: Current State and Conventional Metmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current approaches to waste polymer utilization and minimization: a review

Okan

Aydın

Barsbay

2018

J of Chemical Tech & Biotech

173

102

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The mass production of polymer products, in particular plastics, and their widespread use depending on the inherent advantages they have, make these materials ironically a threat to life on Earth. Polymer recycling is being considered as one of the most widely accepted remedies to the threat of growing amounts of plastic waste by both the public and scientists. In practice, recycling is associated with many difficulties, such as problems related to separation, sorting and cleaning operations, lack of fiscal subsidies, instability of selective garbage separation programs, high transport and electricity costs, etc. Still, a large section of society and the authorities agree on the necessity and importance of recycling to protect the environment, and natural habitats and resources for future generations in a balanced manner to conserve raw materials, and to reduce energy consumption, municipal solid waste production and greenhouse gas emission. The recycling effort is almost endless in itself and includes a variety of approaches such as refurbishing, mechanically reshaping, chemically treating, thermally utilizing, etc. Some novel approaches such as application in carbon capture or synthesis of carbon nanostructures from the plastic waste are among the new process technologies of recycling. From traditional and promising polymer waste utilization approaches, this review will highlight sustainable methods to reduce impacts of plastic waste on the environment. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

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“…The environmental impact of thermosets is considerable and lasts for decades until their complete disintegration. Scrap thermosets are one of the main sources of water and soil contamination . To avoid this significant disadvantage of thermosets but benefit from their unique properties, future smart material designs should include self‐healing, recyclability, and reprocessability as new requirements for thermosets.…”

Section: Selected Fast Self‐healing Systems For Mechanical Property Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultra‐Fast Microwave Assisted Self‐Healing of Covalent Adaptive Polyurethane Networks with Carbon Nanotubes

Bonab

Karimkhani

Manas‐Zloczower

2018

Macro Materials & Eng

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Vitrimers are a class of covalent adaptive networks which, unlike other covalent networks, can be thermally reprocessed, recycled, and are self‐healing. In this research, a polyurethane vitrimer network is prepared using 1,4‐phenylene diisocyanate and excess amount of polycaprolactone polyol. The dynamic nature of this network is provided by a dual effect of dynamic transesterification reactions as well as dynamic transcarbamoylation reactions. This vitrimer can be reshaped, be recycled, and heal potential defects at high enough temperatures. A fast healing strategy is developed by the addition of small amounts (0.05 wt%) of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which enables the use of microwave radiation for an efficient fast healing process. Using this strategy the healing time decreases more than 30 times compared to using a conventional oven. CNTs also enhance the vitrimer mechanical properties and compensate for the mechanical property loss of the dynamic PU network in comparison to the permanent PU network.

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The future of plastics recycling

Abstract: Chemical advances are increasing the proportion of polymer waste that can be recycled

Cited by 801 publications

References 13 publications

Polar‐Functionalized, Crosslinkable, Self‐Healing, and Photoresponsive Polyolefins

Polar‐Functionalized, Crosslinkable, Self‐Healing, and Photoresponsive Polyolefins

Current approaches to waste polymer utilization and minimization: a review

Ultra‐Fast Microwave Assisted Self‐Healing of Covalent Adaptive Polyurethane Networks with Carbon Nanotubes

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