Research supported by the Institute for the Cooperative Upcycling of Polymers (iCOUP) was recently featured in AAAS Science Insights. Scientists from UC Santa Barbara, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and Cornell University discovered an upcycling process that converts polyethylene (often used for packaging and grocery bags) into long-chain alkylaromatics that can be made into biodegradable surfactants. This process operates at a moderate reaction temperature, does not need any solvent or added hydrogen, and produces only a small amount of light-gas by-products such as methane.
News Link: Creating value from plastic waste
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Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics