University of Pittsburgh researchers have developed a novel technology to address the need for environmentally safe thermoplastic alternatives to reduce ocean pollution.
Description
Once hailed as a miracle of 20th century chemistry, plastics are increasingly a threat to the environment, especially the world’s oceans. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – the largest of five ocean gyres – is estimated to contain 1.8 million pieces of plastic. Because their tough molecular structures require centuries for degradation, plastic articles in the ocean are abraded by wave action to form microparticles, which have been found at the deepest point in the ocean as well as inside every aquatic species tested. Rather than only focusing on collecting plastic garbage in the environment, a concurrent priority is developing new polymers as effective as traditional plastics but designed to degrade safely with no environmental impact. Recent biologically derived materials lack the physical robustness required for commercial use, but molecular engineering provides a new approach. By building non-permanent links between polysaccharides – i.e., carbohydrates or sugars – we can create strong films that, like plastics, can be formed into any container to hold various products. But when these polysaccharide materials are exposed to saltwater, the chains break after several days, resulting in benign byproducts that pose no threat to living creatures.
Applications
Replacements for consumer plastic articles and packaging
Advantages
• Can be formed into robust films and other consumer articles
• Rapidly dissolves and degrades into benign compounds when exposed to salt water
• If desired, material can be dissolved and recovered from saline water for recycle
Invention Readiness
A prototype has been developed where following exposure to 3% NaCl there was complete degradation of the material to benign products. Prototype available.
IP Status
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240270925A1
