{"id":27426,"date":"2019-12-12T11:41:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T11:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.englishforums.com\/news\/?p=27426"},"modified":"2019-12-12T11:41:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T11:41:05","slug":"scientists-reduce-plastic-waste-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/scientists-reduce-plastic-waste-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover a way to reduce plastic waste using sunlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chemists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore discovered a method on reducing plastic waste with the use of sunlight.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A possible solution to the plastic waste problem<\/span><\/h2>\n

SINGAPORE – Chemists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) discovered a new process that would make plastic waste transform into another chemical with the use of artificial sunlight<\/a>.<\/span>
\nThe process involves mixing a catalyst solvent into polyethylene and exposing it to sunlight. Once the solution harnessed enough light energy, it then dissolves the plastic into another chemical known as formic acid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Formic acid is a chemical that can be used in fuel cells to produce electricity.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sustainable and cost-effective<\/span><\/h2>\n

The NTU team led by Assitant Professor Soo Han Sen from the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences makes use of a cost-effective biocompatible metal in the form of Vanadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vanadium is commonly used in vehicle steel alloys and aircraft aluminum alloys.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The team mixes a vanadium-based catalyst into a solution together with the plastic and then exposed to artificial sunlight. The process takes around six days before the plastic components break down.<\/span>
\nFormic acid is the result of processing the polyethylene components. It is an antibacterial agent and a natural preservative; it can generate energy in power plants and hydrogen fuel cells.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greener environment<\/span><\/h2>\n

Most plastic waste in Singapore gets disposed of through incineration<\/a>. The process contributes a lot to greenhouse gases that harm the ozone layer. While leftover ashes go into a landfill, which is functional only up to 2035.<\/span><\/p>\n

We aim to come up with a sustainable and cost-effective option to use plastic waste in manufacturing fuel or more useful chemical products.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The discovery made by the NTU team is the first in completely breaking down non-biodegradable plastic with the use of light energy and a catalyst solution with no heavy metal content.<\/span>
\nThe Photocatalyst is encouraged for its low-cost overhead, abundancy, and green effect. And with the use of a non-heavy metal solution in Vanadium, the experiment exhibits the goal of an environmentally friendly and low-cost plastic waste management program.<\/span>
\n 
\nFeatured image by HerPlanetEarth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chemists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore discovered a method on reducing plastic waste with the use of sunlight. A possible solution to the plastic waste problem SINGAPORE – Chemists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) discovered a new process that would make plastic waste transform into another chemical with the use of artificial sunlight. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":27433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.englishforward.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}