Two-step process converts mixtures of plastic into small molecules, but could be challenging to implement at scale.
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A team led by Gregg Beckham, a chemical engineer at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, have developed a two-step process that uses chemistry and then biology to break down a mix of the most common plastics that make it into recycling plants: high-density polyethylene , a soft plastic often found in food packaging; polystyrene, which includes styrofoam; and polyethylene terephthalate , a strong, lightweight plastic used to make drink bottles.
. “Combining chemical and biological pathways to convert plastic mixture is even more rare,” he adds.The team first used a catalysed oxygenation reaction, with a cobalt or manganese-based catalyst, to break down the tough polymer chains into oxygen-containing organic-acid molecules.
The bacteria produced two chemical ingredients that are each used to make high-quality performance-enhanced polymers or biopolymers. “Biology can take multiple carbon sources and funnel them into a single product, in this case a molecule which can be used to make a highly biodegradable polymer,” says Susannah Scott, a chemist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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