Sustainable source of plastics ingredients

In their report published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, scientists Douglas Neckers and Maria Muro-Small said that many of the plastics found in various products contain basic raw materials called olefins, which are derived from petroleum.

These olefins include ethylene, propylene and butadiene, which are known as building blocks for familiar plastics like polyethylene, polyester, polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene.

In their attempt to seek more sustainable alternative source of olefins, they found that by using “UV-C” light — used in sanitizing wands to kill bacteria and viruses around the house — they can change lard, tallow, olive oil, canola oil and waste canola cooking oil into olefins.

The two scientists said that this is the first report on the use of this photochemical process to make olefins. Additional experiments are being conducted.