NTU Scientist Found A Way To Break Down Plastic With Sunlight Within 6 Days

By
Siti Hawa
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I have a brother who’s doing a PhD in Science, which has made me come to terms with the fact that he lives in the laboratory.

He literally has a shirt that says, “I can’t, I have lab”, which he points to whenever I try to make plans with him.

It’s no easy feat to come up with successful experiments, and all of them are the product of hours, days, months and even years of blood, sweat and tears.

So you know that this group of scientists at Nanyang Technological University have really done it:

NTU Scientist Found A Way To Break Down Plastic With Sunlight Within 6 Days

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have come up with an efficient way to reduce plastic waste.

This could literally be a game-changer. Greta, you gotta see this.

A press release by NTU unveiled that the method is able to convert biodegradable plastic waste into valuable chemicals using… sunlight.

Yes, not expensive machines, but sunlight plain and simple.

But exactly how big is this find? It’s big.

Get this: It’s the first method in the world that is able to break down plastics in just six days.

Image: Pinterest

NTU Assistant Professor Soo Han Sen and his team are the geniuses behind the method which was devised over a period of two years.

Basically, it makes use of a catalyst to dissolve plastics in a solvent.

“In lab experiments, the research team mixed plastics with their catalyst in a solvent, which allows the solution to harness light energy and convert the dissolved plastics into formic acid, a chemical used in fuel cells to produce electricity.”

Lest you’re unaware, plastic is otherwise a non-biodegradable material that is widely known to stay in the environment for a very long time. We’re talking hundreds of years.

Thus, being able to break it down in just six days is a real feat. Even high temperatures are ineffective at breaking down plastic due to its strong chemical bonds.

With this trusty new discovery, the method could effectively decrease marine plastic pollution and extend the lifespan of the Pulau Semakau landfill.

The best part of it all is that NTU’s method to break down plastic only takes six days and makes use of an affordable non-toxic-vanadium-based catalyst.

What Does The Plastic Turn Into?

Great, it reduces plastic waste, but what does the plastic turn into you ask?

The method turns the plastic into formic acid, which is often found in food preservatives and cleaning products.

The press release also claims that the formic acid produced can be used to generate energy in power plants.

Alternatively or more viably Soo told Mothership that they can be used in hydrogen fuel cells which can then be used in environmentally-friendly electric vehicles like buses and trains.

That said, the method can’t be used commercially yet and Soo and his team will need to apply for research grants to attract more talents and work on their processes.

He added that the method is still at least five years away from being commercially viable. The team will be looking at if this method can work with a wider range of plastics.

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Siti Hawa
Email: [email protected]