Scientists Upcycle Plastic Waste to Soap.

Researchers are developing a process to make soap from plastic refuse. The team heated polyethylene to a high enough temperature to break down the carbon and make surfactants. The resulting product was short-chain polyethylene, a type of wax. The researchers then added oxygen molecules to the end of these short chains of wax, effectively turning them into fatty acids. A chemical reaction called saponification can then be used to turn the fatty acids into soap which are chemically no different than the fatty acids typically obtained from traditional sources like animals. This upcycling method could also potentially be used on polypropylene, like that in coffee cups and food packaging.

科學家將塑膠廢物升級為肥皂。研究人員正在開發一種用塑膠垃圾製造肥皂的工藝。 該團隊將聚乙烯加熱到足夠高的溫度以分解碳並製造表面活性劑。 所得產品是短鏈聚乙烯，一種蠟。 然後研究人員將氧分子添加到這些短鏈蠟的末端，有效地將它們轉化為脂肪酸。 然後可以使用稱為皂化的化學反應將脂肪酸轉化為肥皂，其化學性質與通常從動物等傳統來源獲得的脂肪酸沒有什麼不同。 這種升級回收方法也有可能用於聚丙烯，例如咖啡杯和食品包裝中的聚丙烯。

Source: packworld.com