The hottest scientist turns waste into treasure ca

Scientists turn waste into treasure carbon dioxide into plastic

under the blue sky, the chimneys of cement plants emit billowing smoke; In the city, cars constantly emit black smoke. The main component of these exhaust gases that pollute the environment and endanger our lives and health is carbon dioxide. How can we turn waste into treasure? For many years, human beings have been exploring ways to turn carbon dioxide into plastic, but due to the high cost of catalyst, it has not been able to be applied on a large scale. Recently, Dr. Meng Yuezhong of the Guangzhou Institute of chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, successfully reduced the cost of plastic production by using new technologies to make the efficiency of the originally developed catalyst higher than twice the world's highest level. Cost reduction makes the prospect of large-scale utilization of carbon dioxide bright. It is reported that China's industry emits more than 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Using waste gas to make plastics not only reduces pollution at the source, but also ensures safety. After treatment, this new plastic can be turned into our daily drink bottles, fast food lunch boxes, etc. it can also be biodegradable without worrying about secondary pollution

can the carbon dioxide exhaled from our nose turn into a foam lunch box or a coke bottle? Yes, it was recently learned from the Guangzhou Institute of chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that Dr. Meng Yuezhong of the Institute has successfully solved the high cost problem of carbon dioxide plastic production. Authoritative experts believe that this achievement can be mass produced, which will effectively reduce the greenhouse effect and white pollution caused by carbon dioxide, and may become a new type of general-purpose plastic. The idea of successfully reducing the cost of plastic production and turning carbon dioxide into plastic was first realized by a Japanese chemist in 1969, but the catalyst he used was inefficient and too expensive to make large-scale industrial development. In the following 30 years, the scientific community failed to make significant progress in this regard, and various scientific achievements could only be left in the laboratory

after returning from Canada last year, Dr. Meng Yuezhong was appointed as the chief scientist of the "carbon dioxide polymerization and utilization" project team. Through new technology, the efficiency of the originally developed catalyst was twice the previous world's highest level. The carbon dioxide content in each ton of new plastic reached 42% left and right, and the cost was successfully reduced to 12000 yuan per ton, which was 3-4 times lower than the price of similar products in the market. Don't worry about secondary pollution

I have seen samples of this degradable plastic in Meng Yuezhong's laboratory. It has different softness, and some are very light and transparent, like glass. Meng Yuezhong said that it has different hardness by changing the molecular composition and structure. I picked up a piece of film and looked at it. It was very transparent, almost the same as the ordinary transparent packaging plastic film. From the appearance, it was almost the same as other films made from chemical raw materials, and its thickness was about the same as that of ordinary packaging bags. Meng Yuezhong told me that if there were good technological means, it could become as thin as thermal insulation plastic paper

according to the introduction, this kind of plastic can be produced by ordinary production process. After treatment, it can also be turned into our daily drink bottles, fast food lunch boxes, etc. some properties are even better than the current general plastic. At the same time, it can also be biodegraded without worrying about causing secondary pollution. Effectively control the greenhouse effect. At present, the net annual increase of carbon dioxide on the earth is 9 billion tons, and the annual emission of a medium-sized cement plant alone is 20000 tons. Meng Yuezhong said that at present, it is not necessary to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make plastics, because China's annual industrial emissions of carbon dioxide exceed 1.5 billion tons, and the source of carbon dioxide is sufficient. Using these waste gases to make plastics also reduces pollution at the source

in March this year, when the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized an expert group with the participation of many academicians to demonstrate the project, it believed that it could make industrial waste gas carbon dioxide into biodegradable plastics beneficial to the environment, which had far-reaching social significance and considerable economic benefits

other experts commented that if this technology can be used by most factories that emit carbon dioxide, the global greenhouse effect can indeed be effectively controlled, and environmental protection is of great significance, which requires Meng Yuezhong to make further efforts to make new products meet market needs and make factories willing to introduce them. According to the introduction, Meng Yuezhong has applied for a national invention patent for key technologies, and has worked with enterprises to build a demonstration workshop with an annual output of 30 tons in advance to further research and develop application technologies for beverage bottles, disposable tableware, food preservation, packaging film and other industries. The main objects of cooperation are still cement plants and oil refineries, which are major carbon dioxide emitters. According to his estimation, It is estimated that it will take 1-2 years for the large-scale promotion and use of new achievements to play a role of matchmaking

experts say that the key is to do a good job in the follow-up.

professor huhanjie, director of the polymer discipline of the National Foundation Commission, who is familiar with this project, pointed out in an interview with this newspaper that Meng Yuezhong's use of "loading" technology has greatly improved the catalytic efficiency, providing a new idea for such research. This achievement can clean up a large amount of industrial waste, reduce pollution, and avoid secondary pollution through biodegradation, which is of great significance to environmental protection. The produced plastic has a good market prospect and is expected to become a general plastic variety in the future

but Hu Hanjie still reminds that the prospect is only possible, and the key is the follow-up industrial development research, including what products to use, how to do it, and how to reduce the cost. This is related to the promotion of the market, whether the results can realize value, and ultimately depends on this step

how can invisible carbon dioxide become white plastic? There are three technical difficulties to overcome here. The first problem was completed by Japanese scientists, while Meng Yuezhong solved the last two key problems. The first step is to separate carbon and oxygen atoms. The constituent elements of carbon dioxide (CO2) are carbon and oxygen. Carbon is a necessary element to form organic substances (such as plastics). If carbon dioxide can successfully react with other compounds, it can become a raw material for molding. This was achieved by a Japanese scientist in 1969. For the first time, he used a catalyst called diethylzinc as the "fourth party" to disconnect the double bond between oxygen atom and carbon atom, and the carbon atom "empathizes" and releases electrons, which are combined with more than 70 lithium batteries and related enterprises in Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, Henan and other places to form degradable plastics. Since then, scientists from all over the world have continuously discovered new catalysts. Second, expand the catalytic contact area. The cost of the catalyst initially discovered by scientists is very high, and it is impossible to carry out industrial development. In order to reduce costs, scientists strive to find a high-efficiency catalyst. At present, the maximum catalytic efficiency has reached 60-70 grams, but the price of the catalyst is higher. Meng Yuezhong took another path, no longer looking for new catalysts, but using existing catalysts to increase its catalytic efficiency. In chemistry, there is a proportional relationship, that is, the larger the contact surface between the catalyst and the object to be catalyzed, the more effective the catalytic reaction will be. This is like the radiator on the computer CPU we use. Even if the wind force of the fan is certain, the larger the surface area of heat dissipation, the faster the gas convection, and the better the cooling effect. Third, the "handshake" between molecules. To make the contact surface of the catalyst as large as possible, it is necessary to make its particles as small as possible. It is best to realize the "handshake" between molecules. Meng Yuezhong thought of a scientific principle that fluorine-containing compounds can be dissolved in liquid carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide will become a fluid state under high pressure. If the catalyst is attached to this fluorocarbon and dissolved in carbon dioxide, the catalyst will also "shake hands" with the molecules of carbon dioxide in a molecular state. Through this method, if the original surface area of a catalyst is 1 square centimeter, the surface area after treatment can be increased by at least 500 times, the catalytic efficiency has indeed increased by nearly 70 times, and the catalytic cost per ton of finished products is reduced to only 200 yuan

development history of carbon dioxide plasticization

in 1969, a scientist at Kyoto University in Japan first used diethylzinc as catalyst for plasticization, and each gram of catalyst can catalyze 0.13-0.7 grams of carbon dioxide

in 1991, a Chinese University used glycerol as a catalyst, but it could only catalyze 0.04 to 0.16 grams of carbon dioxide per gram, even lower than the level in 1969

in 1997, users of Tsinghua University in Taiwan can connect the two materials separately according to the different use voltage of the sample, and then add other materials to improve the catalytic efficiency to more than 2 grams

in 2000, a South Korean scientific research institution found that the catalyst effect can reach the level of 60-70 grams of carbon dioxide per gram, but the cost is too high

application status of carbon dioxide plastics

a large American company used the patent of Japanese scientists in 1969 and began to produce carbon dioxide plastics in 1994, with an annual output of about 20000 tons. Japan has formed a production capacity with an annual output of 3000-4000 tons of carbon dioxide polymers, and South Korea is preparing to build a production line with an annual output of 3000 tons. Due to the high cost and the need to improve the performance of plastics, the manufacture of plastics with carbon dioxide in the United States, Japan and other countries is still in the semi experimental stage in recent years