Whether it is for product packaging or storage, industries used to have a stock of polyurethane materials in their storage until it was banned from being used. Why were the industries kept from using it? The material was bad for the environment, they say.
A team of researchers from the University of Illinois (UI) has released a report that they have found a method to be able to breakdown the components of polyurethane waste to turn them into other useful products. This is according to their news release made on Monday.
Two components make up polyurethane that has been considered hard to breakdown -- alcohol group referred to as polyols and isocyanates made up of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
The polyol is basically petroleum-based which makes it not degradable. To be able to turn this ingredient into something degradable, the researchers incorporated in it a chemical unit that will make it a more eco-friendly material. A chemical called acetal was added to polyol and it made all the difference.
Polyurethane also became a popular option for businesses because it was water resistant. The researchers also worked with a new unit of acetal that will hopefully degrade solvents other than water.
"When we added the combination of trichloroacetic acid and dichloromethane, the material swells up and quickly degrades in room temperature," Ephraim Morado said. He is a graduate student at the University of Illinois and worked on the research with its lead author Professor Steven Zimmerman.
The materials that are formed from the degradation process can now be repurposed to new materials. For example, the elastomers from a type of polyurethane used in making packaging, rubber bands, and car parts can not be turned indo adhesive glue.
"One of the challenges in this approach is that the startup materials are too costly," Zimmerman revealed. "The team is trying to go through the research by going through a better, cheaper way to complete it. The next hurdle is to get a patent and hopefully find someone who will put the results of the study to better use. We hope to commercialize it through the right channels."
Such types of wastes usually end up getting incinerated, a process that requires a large energy input to burn them. In the process, it generates more toxic byproducts, harming the environment even more.
With the advent of this new technique, polyurethane products may continually be used, but it won't be as hard to recycle than it is today.
