British researchers turn orange peel into plastic

Researchers at York University in the United Kingdom have made a breakthrough and major discovery. Orange peel can be used to make commercial bio-based plastics in two years.

Researchers say that they can break down the orange peel into simple monomers and use it to make plastics. This convenient and environmentally friendly technology is believed to soon be popularized.

The research team placed orange peel in a microwave oven to extract the hydrocarbon limonene present in the orange peel. Limonene is used by the plastics industry as a degreasing agent and is commonly found in various household products such as washing liquids and fabric detergents.

But scientists have found that this process also breaks down limonene into monomers that can be used to make bio-based plastics.

James Clark, professor of chemistry and director of the Centre for Green Chemistry Center of Excellence at York University, said that this monomer can be made into a plastic structure and replace traditional plastics such as PET.

He added: "Oranges have caused us great interest because the yield of oranges is very large, and the chemical substances contained in the orange peels are very simple. Surprisingly, they also contain a large amount of monomolecular limonene. Every time when we are cleaning things, it's a good opportunity for limonene to work.”

The University of York is currently building a biorenewable product development center. After the center is completed, it will conduct further research on this finding and demonstrate this theory in a broader context. The center will use this technology to produce tens of kilograms of bioplastics per hour.

Clark added: “Through this scale of production we will be able to demonstrate its viability to the plastics industry. The center will be operational by the end of the year. There are many microwave equipment manufacturers around us, and there are also a large number of sources of orange peel. I hope This technology can be applied in the plastics industry by next year."

“If the plastics industry has not paid attention to this new discovery in another two or three years, it will disappoint me.”

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