It takes a long time for plastic materials to disappear in the soil. Recycling factories have been established for these.
We are aware that plastics are a very important material group for modern technology, the problem is that most plastic materials are thrown away when they serve their purpose and recycling processes are very limited.
In this context, a group of researchers at the University of Konstanz has developed a much more sustainable method for recycling plastic materials similar to polyethylene. Researchers have developed a chemical method to depolymerize plastic molecules down to their monomers, that is, to separate the plastic into its simplest molecular components. This new chemical method works better than mechanical recovery methods and offers 96% recovery rate of starting material in an energy efficient procedure from the built-in mechanical recycling process that requires temperatures above 600 ° C and is limited by the ethylene recovery rate. about 10%.
The low performance of established procedures is due to the fact that plastics are combined with additives during their production, changing the properties of the materials that contaminate them and recycled, so that this alternative chemical depolymerization, called the "breaking point", does not change the crystal structure of polyethylene and the desired properties of processed materials such as high density polyethylene are not recycled. then it is fully protected.
On the other hand, this molecular level breakpoint procedure allows to transform the polymeric chain into smaller molecular building blocks, then the first polymers are the result of the polycondensation of these building blocks, which can be polymers derived from renewable sources such as vegetable oils. when included, and the method requires temperatures of only 120 ° C, this allows for a more energy efficient procedure and closed loop recycling of materials similar to polyethylene, one of the most used plastics.
As easy substitutes for plastic materials are difficult to find for the many applications they reach in today's world, this type of method is very important to our world, so we need methods to recycle these materials and recover valuable raw materials that would otherwise end up. It pollutes our soil and water. Undoubtedly, efficient recyclability is an important consideration in any plastics technology developed today.