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Nanotechnology turns plants into common plastic
Dutch scientists have found a way of turning plant matter into the building blocks of common plastics using a nanotechnology process that offers an alternative to oil-based production.
The team from Utrecht University and Dow Chemical Co produced ethylene and propylene – precursors of materials found in everything from CDs to carrier bags and carpets – after developing a new kind of iron catalyst made of nanoparticles.
Existing bioplastics, which are made from crops such as corn and sugar, have only limited use as they are not exact substitutes for oil-based products.
The new system, by contrast, produces chemicals that are the same as those made in petrochemical works, allowing them to be used in a wide range of industries.
This also means they will not be biodegradable, although they will be made from renewable resources.
Researcher Krijn De Jong and his colleagues envisage using non-food sources of biomass for the new process, such as fast-growing trees or grasses, rather than traditional crops, in order to reduce competition for resources between food and fuel.
Plastics made from biomass could, however, be vulnerable to the same criticism that has beset biofuel production.
Critics say the production of some biofuels can occupy land that would otherwise be used for agricultural purposes, thus limiting food and water resources for a rapidly rising world population.
Some biofuel production could also increase carbon emissions, especially if rainforests are cut down to facilitate production.
The research by De Jong and his colleagues, which was published Thursday in the journal Science, is still at an early stage. It now requires larger-scale testing and pilot projects, so it will not reach the market for several years.
Purely from a scientific point of view this would seem to be big achievement in manipulating plant material via nanotechnology. The processes used might lead the way to other breakthroughs. On the other hand synthesizing ethylene and propylene from plants instead of the naturally found long chain carbons in fossil fuels is not only not much help environmentally the environmental costs could be even worse. It takes a lot of land, water and nitrogen based fertilizers to make a plant grow. Instead of putting those valuable resources into food for people, pets or livestock we would be putting them into plastic products that are an environmental nightmare.
Oldest Human-Made Object in Space
The recent launch of the Curiosity Mars rover has quietly broken the record for oldest human-made object in space, and instantly pulled numismatics, the study of coinage, into the Space Age.
1909 one-cent coin Oldest Human-Made Object in Space
Scientists frequently use coins as scale indicators in photographs, thus the reason for this coins space journey.
Harvard scientists have invented a method of mass-producing robot insects – creating ‘sheets’ of tiny robot bees that pop up ready for action.
When activated, a 2.4 millimetre-tall robot insect ‘pops up’ out of the sheet. The scientists say they aim to create ‘swarms’ of independently flying robot insects.
The entire product is approximately the size of a U.S. quarter, and dozens of the microrobots could ‘pop up’ out of a single sheet.
Harvard experts create tiny robot bees that 'pop up' out of sheets of metal and carbon fiber
The 18-layer structure ‘pops out’ a ready made insects. The roboticists say they can add circuitry such as sensors and motors easily. The layering process builds on the manufacturing process currently used to make printed circuit boards, which means that the tools for creating large sheets of pop-up devices are common and abundant. It also means that the integration of electrical components is a natural extension of the fabrication process. Of the news outlets carrying this story there is no mention of the uses for such robot insects except for some speculation about being used as spy craft. It seems that being able to create a fully functional robot at this scale is more proof of concept for other uses – say a robotic leg. And note the coin to show scale.
The work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the National Science Foundation (through the Expeditions in Computing program), and the Wyss Institute. Some of your tax dollars at work.
