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Research team develops better iron catalyst to help turn plant material into plastic

(PhysOrg.com) -- As most people know, modern plastics are made from crude oil derivatives, making them vulnerable to price and supply fluctuations, which in the end means an alternative must be found in order for the plastics industry to remain viable. One alternative is to use plant material, or biomass instead. Unfortunately, at least till now, the lack of a good catalyst has made the process both expensive and messy, at least for those that create plastics that are virtually identical to the ones based on petroleum. Now, researchers in The Netherlands have found an iron catalyst that appears to be both effective and doesn’t produce a messy byproduct. They describe their work in the journal Science....

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Source: PhysOrg - Friday, 17 February


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