I-Corps: Efficient Chemical Upcycling of Plastic Waste to Value Added Products

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是减少填埋或污染环境的塑料垃圾的数量，并调查从垃圾填埋场转移塑料垃圾的活动的商业潜力。塑料垃圾是现代社会的一个巨大问题，因为一次性使用的塑料产品涉及生活的方方面面，减少它们的使用、回收或寻找替代材料不能完全解决这个问题。此外，渗入环境的塑料还会破坏生态系统。这个i-Corps项目是基于有选择和有效地将塑料转化为高价值应用的化学产品的技术的开发。这种方法利用催化和化学转化来打破聚合物大分子的长碳链。该计划将试图了解影响化学转化的参数和反应条件如何也影响此类转化的商业机会和限制，以及技术创新必须考虑的其他因素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to reduce the amount of landfilled or environmentally polluting plastic waste and to investigate the commercial potential of activities that divert plastic waste from landfill. Plastic waste is a massive problem for modern society because single-use plastic products touch all aspects of life, and reducing their use, recycling, or finding alternative materials cannot fully address the problem. In addition, plastics that leach into the environment damage ecosystems. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology that selectively and efficiently transforms plastics into chemical products for use in high value applications. This approach employs catalysis and chemical conversions to break the long carbon chains of polymer macromolecules. This program will seek to understand how the parameters and reaction conditions that affect the chemical transformation also affect the commercial opportunities and limitation of such conversions, as well as other factors that must be considered for innovation of the technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.