Thursday 10 April 2008

From pollution to plastic

Carbon dioxide captured from the smokestacks of power plants could one day provide the raw material for plastics .

Researchers have demonstrated on a small scale that with sufficient energy and pressure they can turn the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into useful plastic. They are perfecting a procedure designed to turn pollution into a type of plastic used to make everything from DVDs to eyeglass lenses. The effort is being touted as a way to capture and use climate change–causing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources instead of releasing it into the atmosphere or burying it underground. Read the full Scientific American article by David Biello @ http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=turning-pollution-into-dvds&sc=rss