engineering

Researchers find how tiny plastics slip through the environment

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via Eurekalert

Washington State University researchers have shown the fundamental mechanisms that allow tiny pieces of plastic bags and foam packaging at the nanoscale to move through the environment.

The researchers found that a silica surface such as sand has little effect on slowing down the movement of the plastics, but that natural organic matter resulting from decomposition of plant and animal remains can either temporarily or permanently trap the nanoscale plastic particles, depending on the type of plastics.

Read the full story here: here: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/wsu-rfh042721.php

SCIENTISTS TURN ‘TRASH TO TREASURE’ BY MAKING ULTRA-STRONG GRAPHENE FROM COAL, PLASTIC AND FOOD WASTE

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via Newsweek

Taking place inside a custom-designed reactor, the environmentally-friendly new process produces one of the strongest materials known to humankind from materials such as coal, plastics and food waste, according to a team of researchers from Rice University in Texas.On-Demand Hydrogen Cells Could Start Era of ‘Green and Sustainable Energy’READ MORE

Experts said the key is temperature and timing, and the results could potentially revolutionize how the world manages several wasteful materials.

Read the full story here: https://www.newsweek.com/rice-university-scientists-produce-graphene-coal-plastic-food-waste-1484576

The Philippines Is Making Roads and Cement With Plastic Garbage

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Via Bloomberg.com

Philippine companies like San Miguel Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. are using discarded shopping bags, sachet wrappers and plastic packaging to fire cement plants and build roads as the country embarks on an 8 trillion-peso ($157 billion) infrastructure push through 2022.

San Miguel has laid down its first road combining plastic scraps with asphalt, it said in November. The surface material, developed with Dow Chemical Co., used 900 kilograms (1,984 pounds) of plastic to pave a 1,500-square meter (16,145-square foot) test site near the capital.

Read the full story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-23/the-philippines-is-making-roads-and-cement-with-plastic-garbage

Adidas Primeblue Recycled Marine Waste Filling New Miami Football Field, Clothing Line

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via Forbes.com

On May 14 Adidas will roll out fresh consumer product filled with Primeblue material, a polyester made from recycled plastic intercepted from beaches and coastal communities, preventing it from polluting oceans. Ahead of the Super Bowl in Miami, though, the Primeblue material takes on a different use, offering a sustainable choice for a new synthetic football field installation at Miami Edison High School. 

The Adidas partnership with Parley for the Oceans expanded to include a field maker to use 20 tons of the recycled plastic taken from beaches and coastal communities as the infill on the new field, replacing the reground rubber with the plastic-based substance.

read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2020/01/28/adidas-primeblue-recycled-ocean-plastic-waste-filling-new-miami-football-field-clothing-line/#1c1660796acc

TURNING PLASTIC WASTE INTO PROSTHETICS

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via CNNMoney

Two ZHdK graduates are designing lower-limb prosthetic systems from plastic waste that they are planning to produce in developing countries, made there for people there. Their start-up, Project Circleg, launched in 2018 with CHF 500,000 from foundations and is continuing to expand and look for new funding.

Read the full story here: https://www.cnnmoney.ch/shows/tech-talk/videos/turning-plastic-waste-prosthetics-start-ups

Why polymer solar cells deserve their place in the sun

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via EurekAlert

Polymer solar cells may lag behind traditional silicon solar cells in longevity and efficiency, but could ultimately power autonomous remote sensors and wearable technology.

Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, organic polymer solar cells (PSCs) may never cover the hillsides of a megawatt solar farm. But, these lightweight, flexible cells show potential to provide solar power to remote microwatt sensors, wearable technology and the Wi-Fi-connected appliances constituting the “internet of things.”

Read the full story here: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/aiop-wps021618.php

Material gradients could strengthen polymer components

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via Phys.org

Combining flexible and stiff materials has bestowed bamboo with a strength-to-weight ratio that rivals steel. Gradually transitioning from a soft to hard substance allows the squishy squid to slice up prey with rigid, scissor-like beaks.

With the help of a new  co-developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, these two evolution-honed principles could eventually enable engineers to double or triple the strength of polymer-based components.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-02-material-gradients-polymer-components.html#jCp

Winter Olympics: Could Plastic “Ice” Help Overcome Bias toward Colder Countries?

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via Scientific American

Scientists and sports enthusiasts alike have long been looking to level this frigid playing field via the development of plastics that can serve as synthetic ice to line backyard hockey and ice-skating rinks. But the type of polymer needed to coat a sloping two-kilometer track—one that can accommodate sleds traveling in excess of 125 kilometers per hour—has proved much more elusive. “Any synthetic track needs to offer a similar sliding and driving experience to ice and not create any concerns about athlete safety,” says Jan-Anders Månsson, director of Purdue University’s Composites Manufacturing and Simulation Center and a professor in materials and chemical engineering. “It also needs to be both durable and cost-effective.” Read the full story here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/winter-olympics-could-plastic-ldquo-ice-rdquo-help-overcome-bias-toward-colder-countries/

File:Olympic rings without rims.svg

 

NPE2018 Official Mobile App Now Available

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Attending NPE2018 in May? Be sure to download the official NPE2018 Mobile App.

Available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play, the app can help you enhance your experience at the event.

App users have access to:

  • floor plans,
  • exhibitor listings
  • educational conferences/sessions
  • My Show Planner
  • show info and announcements
  • social media

To download the official app visit: http://www.npe.org/mobile-app

 

MIT students fortify concrete by adding recycled plastic

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via MIT NEWS

Adding bits of irradiated plastic water bottles could cut cement industry’s carbon emissions.

MIT undergraduate students have found that, by exposing plastic flakes to small, harmless doses of gamma radiation, then pulverizing the flakes into a fine powder, they can mix the plastic with cement paste to produce concrete that is up to 20 percent stronger than conventional concrete.

Read the full story here: http://news.mit.edu/2017/fortify-concrete-adding-recycled-plastic-1025

 

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