{"id":25693,"date":"2018-08-03T10:10:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T14:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=25693"},"modified":"2022-03-16T10:36:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:36:40","slug":"new-catalyst-for-green-plastic-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/new-catalyst-for-green-plastic-production\/","title":{"rendered":"New Catalyst for \u2018Green\u2019 Plastic Production"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of chemists from Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum (RUB), a German university, has <\/span>developed a cheap catalyst<\/span><\/a> for the production of \u2018greener\u2019 plastic. <\/span><\/p>\n

This development could push forward PEF (polyethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) plastic as a sustainable alternative to PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the common fossil-fuel based plastic used to make water bottles, soda containers and more. <\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, hydrogen is created during the reaction, which can serve as a potential energy source. <\/span><\/p>\n

The study<\/b><\/h2>\n

The researchers developed a nickel boride catalyst, which is cheaper than most catalysts and readily available. <\/span><\/p>\n

It effectively works to turn HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural), a biorefinery product derived from non-food biomass, into FDCA (2,5-furandicarboxylic acid).<\/span><\/p>\n

Both HMF and FDCA are \u201clisted as highly interesting candidates on the way to a \u2018green\u2019 chemical industry,\u201d said <\/span>Stefan Barwe<\/span><\/a>, a research fellow at the RUB Center for Electrochemical Sciences and co-author of the study. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFDCA can be used as commodity chemical for the production of the sustainable polymer PEF, a potential replacement for the heavily produced fossil fuel based PET.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018green\u2019 status of these chemicals has been known for some time, but efficient oxidation of HMF to FDCA has been a challenge. <\/span><\/p>\n

The nickel boride catalyst pushed that dilemma to the side. <\/span><\/p>\n

“FDCA is interesting for the industry because it can be processed into polyesters,” Barwe said in a statement. <\/span><\/p>\n

“That’s how PEF, an alternative to PET, can be made — all based on renewable raw materials, namely plants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A paper describing the full study and presenting the full team is published in the journal <\/span>Angewandte Chemie<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hydrogen production<\/b><\/h2>\n

In testing, the catalyst was able to turn 98.5 percent of HMF into FDCA in just 30 minutes without producing any waste. <\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers were also able to produce hydrogen during the reaction, which could be used as a potential energy source. <\/span><\/p>\n

Traditionally, hydrogen is gained from water using electrolysis, but that process also creates oxygen, which is energy-consuming reaction step. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the team linked hydrogen evolution and FDCA production, they were able to bypass oxygen evolution. <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/b><\/h2>\n

At this point, FDCA production from HMF is a developing topic. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the electrochemical oxidation of HMF, solutions have to be developed to overcome or circumvent the HMF degradation induced by high alkaline concentrations,\u201d said Barwe. <\/span><\/p>\n

More work needs to be done before PEF can effectively replace PET. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe production of HMF has to be scaled, because it is still too expensive at the moment,\u201d said Barwe. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to bring PEF to a point at which it can be a replacement for the heavily used PET, its production has to be cheap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly, there is still room for development and improvement, but a more sustainable method for plastic production is on its way. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of chemists from Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum (RUB), a German university, has developed a cheap catalyst for the production of \u2018greener\u2019 plastic. This development could push forward PEF (polyethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) plastic as a sustainable alternative to PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the common fossil-fuel based plastic used to make water bottles, soda containers and more. Additionally, hydrogen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":45295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,642,230,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainable","category-recycling","category-news","category-lead-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jackson Schroeder","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/jackson-schroeder\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A team of chemists from Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum (RUB), a German university, has developed a cheap catalyst for the production of \u2018greener\u2019 plastic. This development could push forward PEF (polyethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) plastic as a sustainable alternative to PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the common fossil-fuel based plastic used to make water bottles, soda containers and more. Additionally, hydrogen…","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/plastic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}