The National University of Singapore team said it had found a way to convert bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into aerogels that have many potential uses – from insulation and fire safety to cleaning up oil spills.
“Plastic waste is one of the hardest wastes to recycle,” Hai Minh Duong, an associate professor at the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, told Reuters Television.
The team had been looking for novel engineering applications to help reduce the global scourge of plastic waste, he said.
Some eight million tonnes of plastic is dumped into oceans every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain, according to the U.N. Environment Program.
Five Asian countries – China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand – accounted for up to 60 percent of plastic waste leaking into oceans, according to a 2015 study.
The PET aerogels made from plastic bottle waste are soft, flexible, durable, very light and easy to handle, the team said in a statement this month.
One recycled bottle can produce an A4-sized aerogel sheet, the team said, and the material can be customized for various uses by adding surface treatments to enhance its ability to absorb and insulate.
For example, a sheet coated with fire retardant chemicals was able to withstand temperatures of up to 620 degrees Celsius. That is seven times higher than a regular thermal lining in a firefighter’s coat, and only 10 percent of the weight.
Versions of the material can also be used for heat and sound insulation in buildings, cleaning oil spills and in masks to absorb carbon monoxide.
Read more: New ultralight material offers many uses for plastic waste
Image courtesy of reuters.com
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