Issue 06/2021

More documents

Recommendations

Info

From Science & Research By: Takumi Abe, Rikito Takashima, Hideyuki Otsuka, Daisuke Aoki Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology Takehiro Kamiya The Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizers, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo Choon Pin Foong, Keiji Numata Department of Material Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University B ioplastics can be chemically recycled into nitrogenrich fertilizers in a facile and environmentally friendly way, as recently demonstrated by scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech). Their findings pave the way towards sustainable circular systems that simultaneously address issues such as plastic pollution, petrochemical resource depletion, and world hunger. To solve the plastic conundrum, circular systems need to be developed, in which the source materials used to produce the plastics come full circle after disposal and recycling. At the Tokyo Institute of Technology, a team of scientists led by Daisuke Aoki and Hideyuki Otsuka is pioneering a novel concept. In their new environmentally friendly process, plastics produced using biomass are chemically recycled back into fertilizers. This study was published in Green Chemistry [1], a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry focusing on innovative research on sustainable and ecofriendly technologies. The team focused on poly (isosorbide carbonate), or PIC, a type of biobased polycarbonate that has garnered much attention as an alternative to petroleum-based polycarbonates. PIC is produced using a non-toxic material derived from glucose called isosorbide (ISB) as a monomer. The interesting part is that the carbonate links that join the ISB units can be severed using ammonia (NH 3 ) in a process known as ammonolysis. The process produces urea, a nitrogen-rich molecule that is widely used as a fertilizer. While this chemical reaction was no secret to science, few studies on polymer degradation have focused on the potential uses of all the degradation products instead of only the monomers. First, the scientists investigated how well the complete ammonolysis of PIC could be conducted in water at mild conditions (30 °C and atmospheric pressure). The rationale behind this decision was to avoid the use of organic solvents and excessive amounts of energy. The team carefully analyzed all the reaction products through various means, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. Although they managed to produce urea in this way, the degradation of PIC was not complete even after 24 hours, with many ISB derivatives still Biobased polymers to fertilizers present. Therefore, the researchers tried increasing the temperature and found that complete degradation could be achieved in about six hours at 90 °C. Daisuke Aoki highlights the benefits of this approach, “The reaction occurs without any catalyst, demonstrating that the ammonolysis of PIC can be easily performed using aqueous ammonia and heating. Thus, this procedure is operationally simple and environmentally friendly from the viewpoint of chemical recycling.” Finally, as a proof-of-concept that all PIC degradation products can be directly used as a fertilizer, the team conducted plant growth experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana, a model organism. They found that plants treated with all PIC degradation products grew better than plants treated with just urea. The overall results of this study showcase the feasibility of developing fertilizer-from-plastics systems (see picture). The systems can not only help fight off pollution and resource depletion but also contribute to meeting the world’s increasing food demands. Daisuke Aoki concludes on a high note, “We are convinced that our work represents a milestone toward developing sustainable and recyclable polymer materials in the near future. The era of bread from plastics is just around the corner!” Reference [1] Plastics to Fertilizers: Chemical Recycling of a Biobased Polycarbonate as a Fertilizer Source; Green Chemistry; Oct. 2021; DOI: https://doi. org/10.1039/d1gc02327f www.titech.ac.jp/english | www.jst.go.jp/EN 28 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/21] Vol. 16
Download the free bioplastics MAGAZINE App! Automotive Our free Android and iOS App lets you read bioplastics MAGAZINE on your mobile device. You can easily read bioplastics MAGAZINE not only on your smartphone, but on your tablet as well. NEW ! Our 15 th anniversary gift to you: Read all issues back to 2006 on your mobile device*. Try it now! Go to the Google Play Store or Apple App-Store search for “bioplasticsmagazine“. The QR Code will lead you to the respective store automatically. You can also check out the new ePaper webkiosk at: https://epaper.bioplasticsmagazine.com *: (may become a paid service after 2021) Stay in the loop! Subscribe for free! @ ogy.de/rubber-newsletter Subscribe for free! @ ogy.de/pu-newsletter Subscribe for free! @ ogy.de/tpe-newsletter bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/21] Vol. 16 29
Page 1 and 2: Bioplastics - CO 2 -based Plastics
Page 3 and 4: dear Editorial readers Alex Thielen
Page 5 and 6: Emballator launches bio-PP product
Page 7 and 8: First straw bans begin to topple Wh
Page 9 and 10: io PAC bioplastics MAGAZINE present
Page 11 and 12: By: Gabriele Costa Global Product M
Page 13 and 14: Coating Biobased Binders for Coatin
Page 15 and 16: Clean-up ships fuelled by garbage M
Page 17 and 18: Biobased packaging for Chanel CHANE
Page 19 and 20: Useful sample kit PositivePlastics
Page 21 and 22: “Our goal is to develop sustainab
Page 23 and 24: New biobased plasticizer Cargill (W
Page 25 and 26: fossil available at www.renewable-c
Page 27: By: Angelique Greene Kate Parker Sc
Page 31 and 32: The recyclate products The two full
Page 33 and 34: Patent situation Europe and USA are
Page 35 and 36: prohibitively expensive to avoid fr
Page 37 and 38: 7 th PLA World Congress EARLY JUNE
Page 39 and 40: Figure 1: Overview of a simplified
Page 41 and 42: Automotive In November 2011, Stefan
Page 43 and 44: If an assessment of a material, how
Page 45 and 46: use in the biomedical field, PGA ha
Page 47 and 48: 1.3 PLA 1.5 PHA 2. Additives/Second
Page 49 and 50: 08/09/20 16:54 06 / 2021 Subscribe
Page 51 and 52: SMART SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYDAY PRODUC

Issue 06/2021

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?