Chinese scientists have developed plastics that can "disappear" in seawater

HC Plastics News:

In order to solve the increasingly serious problem of marine plastic pollution and protect the marine ecological environment, Chinese scientists have recently developed a polyester composite that can degrade in seawater, and it is expected to replace the existing common plastics that are difficult to degrade in many fields.

Wang Gexia, senior engineer of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the water-soluble and degradable materials developed by the team have certain environmental tolerance and can be degraded in seawater within days to hundreds of days after disposal. It eventually decomposes into small molecules that do not pollute the environment.

Wang Gexia said that people have long focused on white pollution and its treatment on land. Until recently, the phenomenon of a large amount of plastic pollution causing the killing of marine organisms has been frequently reported to cause widespread concern.

According to conservative estimates, the amount of plastic waste that humans put into the ocean every year is 4.8 million tons to 12.7 million tons, accounting for 60% to 80% of the total amount of marine solid pollutants. At present, human activities and ocean currents cause these plastic wastes to be concentrated in the North Pacific, the South Pacific, the North Atlantic, the South Atlantic, and the Central Indian Ocean.

The World Economic Forum also warned that the total weight of global marine plastics in 2050 will exceed the total weight of fish.

According to experts, almost all types of plastics are now found in the ocean. These plastic particles either float in the sea or sink to the bottom of the sea and will not decompose for decades or even centuries, causing serious pollution to the entire marine environment. Plastics are discarded directly after use or from the land through rivers, winds into the ocean, weathered in seawater, seawater weathering, and ocean currents and biota, resulting in plastics eventually forming microplastics less than 5 mm.

Some marine life, such as albatrosses, sea turtles, etc., eating a plastic bag can cause a series of gastrointestinal problems, so that they can no longer eat and eventually starve to death. One of the most shocking scientific data shows that 90% of seabirds die from eating plastic bags.

Wang Gexia pointed out that although the problem of plastic pollution in the ocean has been very serious, there is still no effective response to these plastic pollution. The special marine environment of the ocean makes it impossible for people to collect and dispose of such a large amount of scattered garbage as on land. The most fundamental and effective way is to let the material degrade and disappear after it is discarded into seawater.

According to reports, the Research Group of Degradable Plastics and Engineering Plastics of the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the first unit in China to conduct research on biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable plastics are mostly polymer materials containing ester bonds. The molecular chains are relatively weak, so they can be decomposed and digested by many microorganisms in nature, eventually forming carbon dioxide and water.

At present, the team's biodegradable plastics production and application technology has completed technology licensing to four Chinese companies, three of which have been successfully put into operation, with a total capacity of 75,000 tons per year, accounting for half of the global total.

After recognizing the seriousness of marine plastic pollution, researchers hope to develop materials that are degradable in seawater. However, they found that biodegradable materials that are rapidly degradable on land are difficult to degrade in seawater, and are not degraded for a long time, and cannot be used to solve the problem of plastic pollution in the ocean.

After repeated experiments, the research team of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Technology combined the non-enzymatic hydrolysis process with the water-soluble process and the biodegradation process to achieve rapid degradation of the material in seawater. Through the design, synthesis, modification and processing of materials, researchers can control their degradation performance according to different application requirements.

In the recent “First Cup” future technology innovation competition held in Shenzhen to enhance China's independent innovation capability and increase the transformation of advanced scientific and technological achievements, this technology ranks among the 30 winning projects.

China has upgraded its ecological environment protection to all previous levels, and has solved China's ecological problems while contributing to China's wisdom in solving global environmental pollution problems.

Editor in charge: Yao Chunlin

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