While a connection between the two might seem far-fetched at first, some new exciting science has helped connect the dots in a way that could go a long way for the environment. A team of researchers from Virginia Tech have devised a way to upcycle many plastic types into precursors for
To understand how this is even possible, we need to look closer at the chemical structures of both materials.
Therefore, it was thus theoretically possible to convert the unwanted plastic into soap. And turns out, it might be easier than previously thought. However, the team would have to go down the nightmare route of plastic burning.
When the material was burned and cooled at exact points, it produced a special type of soot from the burning residue. This soot could then be saponified into the beacon of hygiene: soap. And thus, the world's first 'plastic' soap was born.
There was another bit of silver lining to this project. One reason plastics are such a nightmare to handle is that there's so many types, and we can't really process all of them the same way. Therefore, a mountain of energy goes into segregating these types at processing plants.
However, the researchers found that this soaping process could also apply to polypropylenes — another extremely common plastic used in bottles, packaging, medicals, carpets and piping, among other things. This meant that both these plastic types could be processed together, cutting out all the excess energy it might take to separate these very similar plastic types.
Now comes the upscaling of the entire process. The final plastic soap must be valuable enough to cover the extra steps. However, the relatively straightforward and simple requirements of this procedure could contribute significantly to its cost-effectiveness, and even serve to relatively minimise the impact on the environment.
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The findings of this study have been published in Science and can be accessed $4.