In a world grappling with the environmental repercussions of plastic waste, scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have unveiled a technology that could potentially reshape our approach to managing plastic waste. The technology, developed by Tomonori Saito and former postdoctoral researcher Md Arifuzzaman, involves an innovative organocatalyst that facilitates the selective deconstruction of various plastics, including a mixture of diverse consumer plastics. The Mechanism Behind the Innovation The organocatalyst, as detailed in the study published in Materials Horizons, selectively deconstructs condensation polymers at specific temperatures. This allows additives or other polymers, such as polyolefin or cellulose, to be … Continue reading A New Chapter in Plastic Management: ORNL’s Groundbreaking Technology Converts Waste into Wealth