Researchers found a new way to turn plastic waste, into liquid fuel.
Polyethylenes, that are made of many copies of ethylene, make up the 60% of the plastics waste worldwide.
Scientists reported, at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, by chemist Maurice Brookhart and colleagues, that they develop catalysts, that are normally used to link alkanes (short hydrocarbons), together into longer, hydrocarbon chains, such as those found in diesel fuel.
Brookhart says:
“This is very innovative and a clever application of these catalysts.”
According to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report:
“If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two
[truck-fulls] per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050. In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 tonne of plastic for every 3 tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish.”
via sciencealert
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