ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – PVC is an acronym for polyvinyl chloride and is the world’s third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic. Roughly, 40 million tons of PVC are produced each year. It’s used to construct pipes, door and window applications, food-covering sheets, plastic bottles, non-food packaging, and plastic cards like membership or bank cards.
The University of Michigan’s website says it’s also used in hospital equipment like tubing, blood bags and masks as well as modern plumbing, window frames, housing trim, siding, flooring, shower curtains, tents, tarps and clothing and it coats electrical wiring.
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PVC has previously had a zero percent recycling rate but that will be changing soon due to scientists at the University of Michigan who discovered a way to chemically recycle the material so that it is not toxic and can’t infiltrate other plastics in the recycling stream or corrode the recycling equipment.
The journal Nature Chemistry published a study last month done by four authors including U of M researchers first author Danielle Fagnani and principal investigator Anne McNeil.
Fagnani said, “PVC is the kind of plastic that no one wants to deal with because it has its own unique set of problems. PVC usually contains a lot of plasticizers (a substance added to a material to make it softer and more flexible), which contaminate everything in the recycling stream and are usually very toxic. It also releases hydrochloric acid really rapidly with some heat.”
However, the new process will not be using heat. Instead, it will use electrochemistry which is a chemical process that causes electrons to move. Electrons are particles that have a negative electric charge. By introducing electrons into the system, the researchers could control how quickly hydrochloric acid was produced which can be used as a reagent for other chemical reactions.
This new development is an answer to previous problems. Fagnani says, “It’s a failure of humanity to have created these amazing materials which have improved our lives in many ways, but at the same time to be so shortsighted that we didn’t think about what to do with the waste.”
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