Modern life relies on plastic.
Modern life relies on plastic. This lightweight, adaptable product is a cornerstone of packaging, medical equipment, the aerospace and automotive industries and more. But plastic waste remains a problem as it degrades in landfills and pollutes oceans.
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers have created a potential alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastic that is made from carbon dioxide (CO2) and lignin, a component of wood that is a low-cost byproduct of paper manufacturing and biofuel production. Their research was published in Advanced Functional Materials.
“Our study takes the harmful greenhouse gas CO2 and makes it into a useful raw material to produce degradable polymers or plastics,” said Hoyong Chung, an associate professor in chemical and biomedical engineering at the college. “We are not only reducing CO2 emissions, but we are producing a sustainable polymer product using the CO2.”
This study is the first to demonstrate the direct synthesis of what’s known as a cyclic carbonate monomer — a molecule made of carbon and oxygen atoms that can be linked with other molecules — made from CO2 and lignin.
Read more at Florida State University
Image: From left, Associate Professor Hoyong Chung and postdoctoral researcher Arijit Ghorai display the two phases of their degradable polymer at the Dittmer Chemistry Lab at Florida State University. (Scott Holstein/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)
