LANL Pollution Solutions: Taraka Dale Explains How Lab Technologies Could Solve Global Plastic Problems
LANL News:
Earth Week is April 16-22, and New Mexicans are coming out of their collective COVID-19 cocoons to find they’ve wracked up even more plastic waste in the form of old take-out containers and used PPE.
Now what?
Los Alamos biochemist Taraka Dale is offering a free, public talk, 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, April 19, via Webex on how Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Smart Microbial Cell Technology could not only accelerate the breakdown of existing plastics but also engineer bio-friendly ones in the future.
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NREL researcher Chen Wang works on a UV-light setup to study light-driven oxidation reactions to degrade commodity plastics, such as polystyrene and polyethylene.
Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
Plastic pollution is a recognized global challenge. According to
Our World in Data, since 1950, only 9% of the roughly 5.8 billion tons of plastic waste has been recycled. Experts estimate that there will be more plastic than fish by mass in the ocean by
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Researchers developing renewable plastics and exploring new processes for plastics upcycling and recycling technologies will now be able to easily baseline their efforts to current manufacturing practices to understand if their efforts will save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Benchmark data calculated and compiled at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provide a measurement at the supply chain level of how much energy is required and the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the production of a variety of plastics in the United States. Today, we employ a predominantly linear economy for many of the materials we use, including plastics, said Gregg Beckham, a senior research fellow at NREL. Many people and organizations around the world are looking at ways to make our materials economy circular.
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NREL researcher Alli Werner prepares an experiment to evaluate the ability of engineered
P. putida bacteria (in the flasks) to degrade polymeric plastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). NREL s goal, in collaboration with industry, university, and government laboratory partners, is to use bio-based methods to convert these plastics into monomers that can be upcycled into high-value plastics once again creating a circular plastics economy.
Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
2021 begins for most as the new year always does, with hopeful optimism for change,
When an early form of plastic was discovered in 1869, it was hailed as an environmental breakthrough: a cellulose-based material that would save elephants and turtles from the lethal use of their tusks and shells in the production of ivory billiard balls and tortoiseshell hair ornaments.
Today, plastic products tossed by the millions have become an environmental hazard. A research consortium including Los Alamos National Laboratory is aiming to solve the plastic problem.
While natural polymers like cellulose abound in nature, synthetic â or human-made â polymers are often derived from oil and gas products.
And there are thousands of possible variations of these long chains of molecules. Plexiglas, vinyl and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipes are examples of materials made from polymer chains.