Scientists Create New Plastic That Could Be Fully Recyclable

新塑料或可实现100%回收

 

Plastic remains one of the most-used materials for making many of the things we use in our everyday lives.

 

塑料依然是用来制作日常生活许多物品的常用材料。

 

Things made of plastic can be very strong and last a long time. They also do well in extreme heat and cold. Plastic is also much lighter than metal and can easily be formed into different shapes. This makes the material ideal for countless uses across many different industries.

 

由塑料制成的物品可以非常有韧性，耐用性强。塑料还能承受极高和极低的温度。塑料的质量比金属轻得多，而且可以轻易打造成各种形状。这就使得塑料成为各行各业各种用途的理想选择。

 

But the widespread use of plastics across the world is causing major problems for the environment. Plastic material is flooding landfills and causing severe damage in the world’s oceans.

 

不过，世界各地对塑料的广泛使用正在给环境造成许多重大问题。塑料填满了垃圾填埋场，给世界各地的海洋造成了重大危害。

 

Plastics can take hundreds of years to break down on their own. Very few kinds are highly recyclable. This is because of the way plastics are formed.

 

塑料需要数百年才能自然降解。几乎没有什么塑料是高度可回收的，究其原因，还是因为塑料本身的形成方式。

 

It has been estimated that even the most reusable kinds of plastic can only be recycled at a rate of 20 to 30 percent. Even when recycling is possible, the process is costly, can use a lot of energy and, in many cases, produces poor-quality materials.

 

据估测，即便是可重复利用程度最高的塑料，其回收率也只能达到20%-30%而已。即便可回收，其回收流程的成本也十分高昂，要耗费大量能源。而且通常产出的材料，其材质也很差。

 

But a team of researchers working at the U.S. Department of Energy says it has created a kind of plastic that could lead to products that are 100 percent recyclable.

 

但美国能源部有一个研究团队，他们称自己研发了一种塑料，这种塑料生产出的产品可100%回收。

 

The team works at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. It recently reported the discovery in a study in the journal Nature Chemistry.

 

该团队在加州的能源部劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室工作。他们最近在《自然化学》上发布了该研究成果的报告。

 

The researchers say the new material is a plastic polymer called polydiketoenamine, or PDK. The team reports that the material can be broken down in parts at the molecular level.

 

他们表示，这种新材料是一种塑料聚合物，名为PDK。在报告中，他们指出，这种材料可以在分子层面上降解为多个部分。

 

It can then be built up again to form plastics of different shapes, textures, colors and more. The researchers say this process can be repeated over and over again – without the plastic material losing any performance or quality.

 

降解后的部分可以重新组合成各种形状、材质、颜色等需求的塑料。这些研究人员表示，这个过程可以不断重复——不管如何重复，这种塑料也不会失去自己的特质。

 

Most plastics were never made to be recycled, lead researcher Peter Christensen said in a statement. Christensen works at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry center. But we have discovered a new way to assemble plastics that takes recycling into consideration from a molecular perspective.

 

很多塑料天生就是不可回收的，首席研究员彼得·克里斯滕森在一份声明中如是写道。克里斯滕森任职于伯克利国家实验室的分子工厂中心。不过，我们发现了一种新方法，可以聚合塑料，同时又可从分子层面进行回收。

 

The research team reported that, with the newly discovered PDK material, the monomers could be recovered and separated from any chemical additives. This part of the process would involve putting the plastic material into a highly acidic solution.

 

该研究小组在报告中写道，有了这种最新发现的PDK材料之后，就可以从任何化学添加剂中重新获得并分离出单体。这一部分过程包括将塑料放入强酸性溶剂中。

 

Next, the researchers say they plan to develop PDK plastics with a wide range of thermal and mechanical properties. These plastics could be used for many kinds of cloth, as well as things such as 3D printed materials and foams. In addition, the team is looking to include plant-based materials in the process.

 

这些科学家表示，接下来，他们计划研发PDK塑料，这种塑料具有许多热性能和机械性能。这些塑料可以用于多种布料和其他材料中，比如3D打印材料和泡沫。此外，该小组还在研究如何将以植物为基础的材料纳入这个流程中。

 

Then we would be able to more effectively divert plastic from landfills and the oceans, Helms said. This is an exciting time to start thinking about how to design both materials and recycling facilities to enable circular plastics, he added.

 

然后，我们就能提高效率，将塑料从垃圾填埋场和海洋中分流出来，赫尔姆斯如是说道。这是激动人心的时刻，我们可以开始思考如何设计材料和回收设备，从而让塑料循环回收成为可能，他补充说道。

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