AI finds new plastic eating enzymes

5 January 2023 by Kylie Hargreaves

Energy

The discovery of plastic eating enzymes in 2016 held great promise. Work on enzymatic solutions has since focused on speed, scalability & cost of the process, especially for some PET requiring energy-intensive pre-treatment. By using AI, researchers have identified new enzymes able to digest PET without pre-treatment. At scale, this could mean recycled PET could be broken down and re-made more cheaply than virgin PET made from petroleum. https://www.nrel.gov/news/features/2022/scientists-discover-enzymes-cheaper-to-recycle-waste-polyester-textiles-and-bottles-than-making-from-petroleum.html

What do you think?

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Comments

Energy

Electricity from the Air

A team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified that "literally any kind of material can harvest electricity from air, as long as it has holes smaller than 100 nanometers (nm), or less than a thousandth of the width of a human hair.” https://www.umass.edu/news/article/engineers-umass-amherst-harvest-abundant-clean-energy-thin-air-247

29 May 2023 by Kylie Hargrea... 0 Comments

Energy

16 May 2023 by Prof.(Dr.) Sa... 0 Comments

Energy

Green Methanol for LEGO and Insulin Pens

Green methanol is a low carbon liquid chemical and fuel produced from sustainable biomass, often called bio-methanol, or from captured CO2 & hydrogen produced from renewable electricity, referred to as e-methanol. It is a multipurpose liquid which is easier to store and handle than green hydrogen. It's been slow to get much traction, but is showing promising signs of renewed interest with LEGO and others looking at its use in their operations. https://www.reuters.com/article/renewables-plastic-lego-novo-nordisk-idAFL8N36N1YN

30 April 2023 by Kylie Hargrea... 0 Comments