Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Recycling Revolution -- Turning Old Plastic Bottles Into Valuable Recycled Materials

Chemical Engineers developed a way to break down plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate -- or PET, and recycle it back into high value uses like more soda bottles, water bottles, beer bottles. Inside the recycling plant's extruder, water is removed from ground up plastic. Then, the plastic is melted and chemically broken down -- in a process called depolymerization. The breakthrough in this process is to be able to go from chips of this plastic to the recycled material in about five minutes.

http://tr.im/oK3i


/rbs:.:.:

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