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Chemical engineers help develop ways to recycle waste plastic
January 20, 2000Project supervisor Dr Don Glass explained: "Waste plastic, particularly packaging, is one of the curses of the industrial age. Ill-managed landfill sites are surrounded by large areas in which unsightly wind-blown polymer film is festooned on trees and fences." He added that current EU regulations mean 15% of waste plastic must be recycled, but hygienic and safety considerations prevent the re-use by melting and re-forming, of the huge quantities of plastics used as food packaging.
"A process developed by an industrial consortium, led by BP Chemicals Ltd, converts mixed waste plastics from municipal and industrial waste into a heavy liquid, suitable for use either as petroleum feedstock or in producing ethylene and propylene, the building blocks of much plastics production," said Dr Glass. "This is done by breaking up the large polymer molecules under the influence of heat in a fluidised bed - equipment in which a powdered solid is induced to behave like a liquid by upward patterns of gas flow. The product is a viscous, waxy liquid."
The School of Chemical Engineering has contributed to the development of this process over a number of years, particularly in studies of the best way to transfer to the fluidised bed the heat necessary for the depolymerisation reaction.
The 12-month project is being funded by BP Chemicals Ltd (£10,000) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (£51,350). An accurate scale model of the proposed reactor vessel will be used to investigate the design of a gas distributor for the bed, and the movement of polymer particles within it.
For further information,
please contact:
Dr Don Glass, Tel: 0131 650 4860
Edinburgh, University of
The 12-month project is being funded by BP Chemicals Ltd (£10,000) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (£51,350). An accurate scale model of the proposed reactor vessel will be used to investigate the design of a gas distributor for the bed, and the movement of polymer particles within it.
For further information,
please contact:
Dr Don Glass, Tel: 0131 650 4860
Edinburgh, University of
Aging Current Events and Aging News RSSPrimary care provides patients with better outcomes at lower cost
A white paper, How is a Shortage of Primary Care Physicians Affecting the Quality and Cost of Medical Care?, released today by the American College of Physicians (ACP) documents the value of primary care by reviewing 20 years of research.
Study Investigates Non-Surgical Placement of a Gore-tex Type Device in the Heart to Stop Recurrent Strokes and Mini-Strokes
A study is under way at Rush University Medical Center using a small, soft-patch device made of a Gore-tex-type material - often used to make durable outerwear - to close a common hole found in the heart called a patent foramen ovale (PFO) in order to prevent recurrent strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) in adults.
Scientists Discover New Planet Orbiting Dangerously Close to Giant Star
A team of astronomers from Penn State and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland has discovered a new planet that is closely orbiting a red-giant star, HD 102272, which is much older than our own Sun.
Exercise increases brain growth factor and receptors, prevents stem cell drop in middle age
A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.
Super-Tough Sunshield to Fly on the James Webb Space Telescope
Imagine sunglasses that can withstand the severe cold and heat of space, a barrage of radiation and high-speed impacts from small space debris. They don't exist, but Northrop Grumman engineers have created a Sunshield for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope that can withstand all of those elements. The space telescope needs a Sunshield to block heat from the sun so its cameras and instruments can operate properly a million miles from the Earth, when it launches in 2013.
SNPs affect folate metabolism in study of Puerto-Rican adults
Researchers at Tufts University have gained further understanding of the genomic basis for altered folate metabolism and the content of uracil in blood DNA.
Caring for the caregiver: Redefining the definition of patient
One quarter of all family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients succumb to the stress of providing care to a loved one and become hospital patients themselves, according to an Indiana University study published in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Researchers use chemical from medicinal plants to fight HIV
Like other kinds of cells, immune cells lose the ability to divide as they age because a part of their chromosomes known as a telomere becomes progressively shorter with cell division. As a result, the cell changes in many ways, and its disease fighting ability is compromised.
New study shows that important gene controls the ability of the thymus to produce disease-fighting T-cells after an organism's birth
New research, just published by researchers from the University of Georgia, provides the first evidence that a key gene may be crucial to maintaining the production of the thymus and its disease-fighting T-cells after an animal's birth.
An Anti-Frailty Pill for Seniors?
Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System report that a daily single oral dose of an investigational drug, MK-677, increased muscle mass in the arms and legs of healthy older adults without serious side effects, suggesting that it may prove safe and effective in reducing age-related frailty.
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