plastics

95% of plastics are manufactured with oil and gas. Japan has gotten a bacterium in place

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The world is flooded with plastic. There are microplastics even in our testicles. And the vast majority of them are manufactured from fossil fuels, which aggravates our dependence on these non -renewable resources. In Japan, a bioingenier team from the University of Kobe has found a promising solution. From Pet to PDCA. 95% of the plastics that we use in our day to day are manufactured from oil and gas (98%, if we add coal). In containers, textiles and to the interior of the cars we find a plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate or PET. The objective is to find a high performance alternative to the PET using renewable and biodegradable sources. Exists. It is called pyridineodycarboxylic acid (PDCA) and is a environment -respecting monomer that, when it is polymerized, has comparable physical properties or even superior to those of the PET. The problem, until now, had been to produce large -scale PDCA. Traditional methods to synthesize it are not very efficient and generate unwanted by -products. The solution: a bacterium. The novelty of Japanese research, published in the magazine Metabolic Engineeringis that it uses the cellular metabolism of the bacteria Escherichia coli To produce PDCA from glucose. Unlike the previous bioproduction methods, this makes the bacteria assimilate nitrogen and build the compound from beginning to end, eliminating the problem of by -products. While the existing bioproduction methods They had encountered limitations regarding the quantity and purity of the final compound, bioreactors based on this bacterium are capable of making a clean PDCA synthesis at more than seven times higher concentrations. And with abundant and cheap raw material. E. coli as factory operators. The process has not been exempt from difficulties. The largest bottleneck was to prevent one of the enzymes introduced into the bacteria to produce hydrogen peroxide, a highly reactive compound that deactivated the enzyme itself. The researchers managed to overcome this obstacle by refining the crops and adding a compound capable of eliminating hydrogen peroxide. Now they look for a more profitable solution for large -scale production. The future of bioplastic. Despite the pending challenge, this progress feels the foundations of large -scale plastic microbial synthesis. The practical implementation of bioreactors for the production of high performance PDCA is not only possible, but is a step closer to becoming a reality at an industrial scale. Image | USDA In Xataka | Scientists already investigate a solution to climate change and famines: eat us plastic

We have achieved a new milestone into recycling: transform plastics into paracetamol

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The name Escherichia coli It is usually associated with stomach infections, some potentially mortal. Now a genetically modified version could help us synthesize one of the most consumed medications in the world, acetaminophen or paracetamol. And incidentally help us with a no less serious problem, plastic waste. Recycling. A new study He has shown The possibility of using bacteria in the production of paracetamol based on a common plastic, polyethylene or PET terephthalate, using bacteria as a tool. This mechanism can open the way to a cleaner system to synthesize the popular analgesic and antipyretic. Plastic and paracetamol have something in common: both are synthesized from hydrocarbons. That is why the team responsible for the new study wanted to demonstrate that the residue of one could serve as raw material in the manufacture of the other. “This work shows that PET plastic is not just a disposable product or intended to become more plastic: it can be transformed by microorganisms into new and valuable products, including those with potential to treat diseases,” explained in a press release Stephen Wallace, co -author of the study. E. coli. Normally, bacterium populations E. coli They live in our digestive system. However, some variants of this species have the ability to produce some harmful toxins For our body, resulting in pathogens. However, the team responsible for developing this new technique has set something very different and is the phosphate of these bacteria. Using genetically rescheduled specimens, the equipment transformed this bacteria into a key step in the transformation of a residue into a medication. 24 hours. All in a process that requires just 24 hours. This process begins with the decomposition of plastic. In its experiment, the team used bottles, although other types of PET plastics could serve in the process. The team administered tereftallic acid, a derivative of this plastic, to the bacteria carried out by an internal fermentation process that resulted in synthesizing the pharmacological compound. The details of the process were published In an article In the magazine Nature Chemistry. Decarbonizing the process. One of the details of the process prominent by the team is that this can be performed at room temperature. This implies lower energy consumption and therefore “virtually no carbon emission”, opening the way to a more sustainable production of paracetamol. The great challenge is to climb this process to make it profitable at the industrial level. Something that will not be easy for what for now we can only talk about a promising technology that can help us face two major challenges in sustainability: residues derived from plastics and drug production. In Xataka | The end of plastic as we know is probably close. The plastic capable of self -destroying is already ready Image | Niaid / Doctor 4U UK

We have been thinking that the recycling of plastics worth something. Maybe we were wrong

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That the plastic recycling system is broken is an open secret. But it’s just little by little we are realizing The problem dimension. The American Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) association published last year A report on plastics recycling. It lashed out at the plastic industry, which they accused of having promoted the recycling of these materials even knowing the low technical and economic viability. A difficult task. Recycling plastics is not an easy task. In our day to day we use a wide variety of materials of this type, each with certain characteristics, functional and chemical. All end in the same container, that of the containers, but from there it is necessary to separate each type of plastic for proceed to your recycling When possible. It is not always possible. Disgusty data. According to Ecoembes data, in 2022 they were recycled in Spain 708,596 tons of plastic containers, although NGOs like Greenpeace question. According to Greenpeacethe difference between the plastics recycling rate declared by Ecoembes (89.2%) and the one estimated by the NGO itself (34.8%) is notorious. It should be noted that it is still over the world average of 9% estimated by the OECD. According to the reportfigures like these are just the reflection of an impossibility: effectively recycle plastics is out of reach. Not only from an economic perspective but also from the technological point of view. A single use. However, the report emphasizes an accusation: even knowing this impossibility, the industry He promoted the idea that recycling was possible and viable to facilitate the path to single -use plastics such as those we use in the containers. “They knew that if they focused on the (plastics) of a single use people would buy and buy,” explained to The Guardian Davis Allen, CCI researcher and co -author of the report. Another point of view. The industry reaction soon arrived. The American Chemistry Council, In a statementhe pointed out that “American plastic manufacturers are investing billions of dollars in better innovative products and technologies that separate, capture and recycle greater amounts and more types of plastics.” They claim that the “wrong report” refers to obsolete technologies and that is an equivocal characterization of the industry and the capacities present for the recycling of plastics. “As is typical, instead of working together towards real solutions for plastic waste, groups such as CCI choose attacks at the political level instead of constructive solutions,” protested Matt Seaholm, President and Executive Director of the Plastics Industry Association, in statements also collected by The Guardian. Will we achieve it? We may never achieve An efficient system of recycling that we can apply to the plastics of our day to day. But perhaps we are one day capable of treating this waste so that their waste does not contaminate our environment. One of the Great bets In this sense, it is the discovery of enclosures capable of decomposing plastic polymers, breaking these chains to turn them into harmless molecules. It is undoubtedly a great promise but nothing guarantees for now that it does not result in a chimera, only time will say it. Although time is not what about. Pollution caused by microplastics is already a reality. These waste has appeared in the most remote places on Earth, a sign of the great reach of these pollutants. It is also very little that we know about the potential impacts on health and the environment of these waste. In Xataka | I have always been curious about what they did with yellow containers: so I have followed one In Xataka | “Within 200 years, archaeologists will seek in our garbage and find a terrible image of ourselves”: the dirty reality of what we throw Image | Krizjohn Rosales *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

We have a new type of plastic, with the durability of traditional plastics and what is more important: recyclable

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During most of human existence, finding or producing food with which to sustain our population. Agrarian development millennia have allowed us to reach the point where humanity does not have to face the problem of lack of livelihood, but we have reached a point where the problem is at the other end of the chain: the problem of the waste. A new plastic. To solve it, or at least to relieve it, a team of researchers has created a new type of plastic. According to its developers, the new material is of great durability but can also be easily recycled. Recyclable alternative. This new plastic is presented as an alternative to conventional thermosye plastics. These materials stand out for their durability and are widespread in the industry: we can see them in many objects, from wheels to balls to play bowling. The characteristic that makes these plastics so resistant is their structure in which the reticulated polymers. In his secret is his disadvantage and this structure makes them impossible to recycle them, Explain the team responsible for the new plastic material. Double polymerization. The process of creating the new plastic part of the dihydrofurano (DHF), a circular monomer with double bond that can be created from biological materials, The team points out. From this monomer two polymerization processes begin, the second process being the result in a reticulated polymer. In the first process the circular structures of the DHF are cut and then link them to each other, creating a flexible and soft polymer in addition to recyclable and degradable in acid, explains the equipment. This process is part of the intact monomer In the second polymerization, these circular monomers do not open and then intertwine, but thanks to their double bond they join between them and next to the polymer resulting from the first process, everything without changing their circular structure to a linear. This second stage is what hardens the final material. A more sustainable process. The resulting polymer is recyclable using heat and can be degraded naturally in the environment. In addition, the resulting material can be altered through variables in the process such as time using the reaction or number of catalysts used, which leaves a wide range of possible materials result of the same reaction. Altering the light in the process, for example we can choose between a more difficult or more flexible resulting plastic. “The whole process, since the creation of reuse, is more ecological than with current materials,” explained in a press release Reagan Dreiling, a member of the team that developed the new material. The researcher and the rest of the team presented the details of the development of the new material In an article In the magazine Nature. In Xataka | The European waste industry has been lying for years: in 2018 everything jumped through the air and we have not yet recovered Image | Sigmund

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