Researchers at IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Stanford University say they have developed a process for making plastics that could allow for multiple rounds of recycling.
In a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal, Macromolecules, the scientists also detailed discoveries that could lead to the development of new types of biodegradable and biocompatible plastics.
The scientists are pioneering the application of
organocatalysis to green polymer chemistry, which represents a
fundamental shift in the field.
The research is said to have implications across a wide
range of industries including biodegradable plastics, plastics
recycling, healthcare and microelectronics.
For
example, many effective drugs that are designed to target cancer cells
are often so potent that they attack cancerous and healthy cells
alike. The use of organocatalysis could help in the design of custom
polymers that may aid in delivering drugs to a specific cell or region.
On the recycling front, the breakthrough could lead to a new
recycling process that reverses the polymerization process to
regenerate monomers in their original state, reducing waste and
pollution significantly, researchers said.
While plastics are recyclable, the resulting materials currently are
limited to "second generation reuse" only. This means the materials
made from recycled plastic bottles are disposed in landfills. In the
United States, up to 63 pounds of plastic packaging per-person is
disposed of each year, instead of being repeatedly recycled. The breakthrough could allow for continual recycling of materials, what’s known as a "closed-loop" life cycle.
"The development of new families of organic catalysts brings more versatility to green chemistry and opens the door for novel applications," said Josephine Cheng, IBM Fellow and vice president, IBM Research – Almaden.
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