Researchers from Tel Aviv University have improved and reduced the production process of the "green polymer" that may reduce the pollution of the plastic industry
Plastic materials are cheap to produce and have a variety of properties that meet our needs. Therefore, a significant part of the products we encounter in our daily lives are composed of these materials. But the main disadvantage that we are all already aware of is that traditional plastic materials such as polyethylene or polystyrene are harmful to the environment. How it manifests itself? First of all, they are derived from oil, which is a depleting resource (the opposite of a renewable resource), and secondly - their decomposition rate at the end of use is extremely slow and may continue even for hundreds of years. The problem worsens sevenfold when it comes to plastic products intended for "single use", such as food packaging. Therefore, scientists all over the world are trying to find solutions that will reduce the use of these substances. For the first time, a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University succeeded in producing an improved version of an environmentally friendly plastic called poly (lactic acid). The researchers estimate that the new development will help the industry to increase the use of green polymers at the expense of traditional ones, thus reducing the ecological footprint of the plastic industry.
The strong link
The research was conducted under the leadership of doctoral student Rami Hadour under the guidance of Prof. Moshe Kol, Head of the incoming school of chemistry at the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, head of the Bruno Landsberg Department of Green Chemistry, and a member of the Green Council of Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Dr. Michael Schuster from the Carmel Olpinim Company and Prof. Vincenzo Vendito from the University of Salerno in Italy. It was conducted with the support of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and with the support of the National Science Foundation and was published in the prestigious journal Angewandte Chemie and featured as a VIP article.
Polymers, or plastic materials, are chemical materials with a structure of giant chains. Their properties are determined by the nature of the links in the chain and the way they are arranged. The researchers explain that of all the possible alternatives, poly plastic (lactic acid) is considered the greenest, because the raw material for its production (the vertebrae) is derived from renewable resources, including agricultural crops such as corn, and because the rate of its decomposition in a controlled environment after use is fast. However, its price relative to traditional polymers is high, so its use is still limited. The development of the latest research is expected to lower its production.
The process of making the plastic requires the use of a catalyst, a kind of chemical weaving machine that connects the links to form the polymer chains. In the process of preparing the raw material, different types of vertebrae are obtained. The industrial catalyst is unable to distinguish between the types of links, and the chains it creates contain a random sequence of links. Accordingly, the resulting plastic has reduced strength. In order to obtain desired properties of the plastic, the raw material must therefore be purified by separating the links into their different types even before the polymerization stage, which makes the production process more expensive.
At the heart of the current discovery are modern catalysts that are able to distinguish between the different types of vertebrae. Accordingly, the various links are concentrated in different areas of the chains, and the resulting polymer is crystalline and has increased strength, even when it is produced from an impure raw material. The use of these catalysts eliminates the need to purify the raw material and may reduce production. The same distinguishing ability of the state-of-the-art catalysts is maintained even under extreme industrial production conditions, and the catalysts are particularly efficient.
"We hope that with the help of our technology we will be able to influence, already in the foreseeable future, the types of future plastic materials and the way they are produced, in the hope of reducing the carbon footprint of the global industry as soon as possible"
A high-quality and efficient response to a global problem
To the question of when it will be possible to start implementing the use of the innovative method, Prof. Kol answers that "the road between laboratory development and industrial application is, as usual, long. The new materials and technology should show substantial advantages relative to the existing materials and technology. For example, a slight cheapening of the process will not justify the construction of a new plant with an investment of tens of millions of dollars. The existing process suffers from several problems, including the use of a catalyst based on tin and the need for expensive purification of the raw material. In my opinion, our invention may overcome these problems. Of course, there needs to be an industrial partner who is willing to invest money, time and efforts in cooperation, so that in the end the technology will be ready for implementation."
To the question to what extent the new invention will have an effect on our lives and the lives of our children, Prof. Cole has a complex answer. "Our polymer constitutes a very small part of the volume of polymers produced today. how small A permil, meaning a thousandth. However, the growth rate in its production increases very quickly and every 4-3 years its quantity doubles, and this at the expense of more harmful traditional polymers. We hope that if our technology can make its production cheaper, and perhaps even improve its properties - production can expand even faster, thus influencing, already in the foreseeable future, the types of future plastic materials and the way they are produced, in the hope of reducing the carbon footprint of the global industry as soon as possible . However, we must emphasize - it will not be possible to replace the existing traditional polymers in most applications, especially in the field of food packaging", he concludes.
Ramot - the commercialization company of Tel Aviv University, submitted several patent applications protecting the technology and its application. "We believe in the broad commercial potential of the technology and congratulate Prof. Moshe Kol, Dr. Rami Hadour and their research partners on a groundbreaking discovery that provides a high-quality and effective answer to this burning global problem," says Keren Primor Cohen, CEO of Ramot.
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