Are plastics in the ocean as big a problem as widely believed?
IMAGE: COVER FOR "PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE GLOBAL OCEAN" view more
CREDIT: WORLD SCIENTIFIC
It is understood that plastic pollution is one of the great environmental problems of our time, but do we not know enough to solve it already? In Plastic Pollution in the Global Ocean, a number of foremost researchers in the field of environmental contamination, polar research, hydrology, oceanography, ecotoxicology and more, explore this complex topic in an accessible and engaging way; explaining why this issue is so challenging to tackle and how little we really understand the fate of these materials in the environment. Attention is given to the range of key areas and environments being considered by current research in this diverse field, highlighting the state of the art of the current research, as well as the breadth and importance of the projected and planned future investigations.
Plastics are fantastically useful materials. From automotives and technology, to healthcare and construction, plastics are a stalwart of modern life, and one which we could no longer do without. Calls to live ‘plastic-free’ are short sighted – do you wish to be without your mobile phone, your car and most of your clothes? Instead, it is important to determine where the real problems with plastics lie, and how these can be resolved without losing the incredible functionality of these materials. To this end, researchers are looking into how plastics enter the environment and degrade, which are the most hazardous plastics if they enter ecosystems (and why) and the real pros and cons of proposed solutions, including policies, biodegradable materials, and societal change. Banning plastics is neither practical nor desirable, and so learning to adapt the ways in which we use them to achieve maximum benefit with minimal harm is fundamental to retaining both a prosperous environment and society. Bringing together a range of expert contributions, this book details the recent advances in our knowledge of these essential materials, and how we can achieve all their benefits, while reducing or eliminating future environmental harm. This is one of the fundamental challenges of the modern age.
While this is a complex and nuanced issue, Plastic Pollution in the Global Ocean makes the topic accessible and digestible to established and new researchers alike, and is suitable for readers from undergraduate through to professor level who are entering this field, or who simply wish to learn more.
Written by contributors ranging from PhD scholars to world leading experts and researchers, from 20 leading institutions in the UK, China, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Vietnam Portugal and the USA, this review volume explores the wide range of the fundamental geographical, environmental and research areas that are central to understanding the context of plastic pollution in the global ocean. Addressing these key issues, this book should be a core text for anyone wishing to enter the field of plastics in the environment.
Plastic Pollution in the Global Ocean retails for US$148 / £130 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12912.
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About the Editor
Dr Alice A. Horton is a Principal Investigator of Anthropogenic Contaminants at the National Oceanography Centre, UK. She completed her PhD at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2019. Her expertise lies in the fate and ecological effects of microplastics in aquatic environments. Her research focuses on how the connections between land, lakes, rivers and the ocean lead to the transport and accumulation of microplastics within the environment, their associations with organic chemicals, and how these processes influence the interactions and effects of microplastics on aquatic organisms. Dr Horton has published numerous papers and book chapters in this field, and has worked as a guest editor for the journal Environment International. She has chaired sessions and presented her work at a wide range of international conferences including MICRO, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), European Geosciences Union (EGU), World Water Week, and the Arctic Circle Assembly.
About World Scientific Publishing Co.
World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 160 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.
For more information, contact WSPC Communications at communications@wspc.com.
DOI
Researchers team up to break down, upcycle low-quality, rejected plastic wastes
IMAGE: IOWA STATE'S XIANGLAN BAI HOLDS A BEAKER OF SHREDDED, SINGLE-USE PLASTICS, WHILE GRADUATE STUDENTS WORK BEHIND HER IN THE BIORENEWABLES RESEARCH LABORATORY. view more
CREDIT: PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER GANNON/IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY.
AMES, Iowa – Researchers are integrating tried-and-true technologies (let’s unleash bacteria on the biodegradables then heat up the leftovers) and developing new ones (let’s try plasma that shoots “bullet” electrons) to break down waste plastics and convert them to useful materials.
“We’re learning about new technologies and helping to develop new ideas for more interdisciplinary approaches to solving these complex problems,” said Xianglan Bai, an Iowa State University associate professor of mechanical engineering and leader of two, $2-million-plus research projects supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The newest project, a three-year, $2.25 million grant administered by the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, aims to convert the lowest-quality plastics in the waste stream, plastics now rejected for recycling, into materials for construction industries.
The first step is to feed the rejected, biodegradable fraction of the mixed wastes into an anaerobic digester where bacteria break it down to produce biogas, a sustainable, low-cost, low-carbon fuel that’s mostly methane (the same as natural gas).
Leftovers from the digester would be combined with the nonbiodegradable waste and heated without oxygen in a process called pyrolysis. That would produce bio-oils for asphalt-binding products plus charcoal-like biochars for carbon-sequestering concrete additives and reinforced biocomposites.
The big problem, Bai said, is that the rejected plastic waste is “very complex – there are too many things in there. It’s very heterogenous.”
So, the waste must be analyzed to understand what’s there. Then the researchers need to find technologies that can efficiently and economically convert the waste. And then they have to understand the resulting materials.
It takes a lot of expertise to work through all that, so Bai has assembled a large team of researchers for the project. (See sidebar.) Working together, they’ll develop a system that uses most of those rejected wastes and keeps them out of landfills.
Electron ‘bullets’ to break down plastics
The second project, a three-year, $2.5 million grant administered by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing and Bioenergy Technologies offices, will develop new plasma technology to convert single-use plastics to biodegradable plastics.
Bai said the project is all about trying a hybrid of plasma and biological technologies to break down and upcycle single-use plastic films such as plastic bags, product packaging and food containers.
Bai has been developing novel, low-temperature plasma conversion technologies for adding value to biomass and waste plastics. The plasma is created by applying a strong electric field to a gas, which accelerates electrons and creates charged particles
“The free electrons are like bullets,” Bai said. “They speed up and hit other things. These ‘attacks’ can break down chemical bonds.”
By using the plasma with carbon dioxide, the researchers can break down decontaminated plastic films, creating a fermentable liquid. That liquid can be fermented to produce biodegradable polymers, with the fermentation creating carbon dioxide that can be looped back into the plasma reactor.
The result? Conversion of waste plastic film into biodegradable plastics in a process that lowers energy use, carbon emissions and production costs.
Bai has assembled another big team of researchers to develop this hybrid idea for reusing plastic wastes. (See sidebar.)
“These two projects are using very different approaches,” she said. “Both are using an interdisciplinary approach to solve the problems and understand what is happening at the molecular level.”
Bai is looking forward to breaking down the complexity of both projects.
“We’re going to learn and figure this out – it’s a great feeling when you figure it out.”
Researchers are working to convert these shredded, single-use, waste plastics into useful materials.
CREDIT
Photo by Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University.
Research team for converting rejected wastes to value-added construction materials:
Principal investigator, Xianglan Bai, Iowa State University
Co-principal investigators, Keith Vorst, Iowa State; Christopher Williams, Iowa State; Kejin Wang, Iowa State; Bradley Wahlen, Idaho National Laboratory; Xianhui Zhao, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee); Soydan Ozcan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Yebo Li, quasar energy group (Ohio)
Research team for upcycling single-use plastic films to biodegradable polymers:
Principal investigator, Xianglan Bai, Iowa State University
Co-principal investigators, Keith Vorst, Iowa State; Mark Mba-Wright, Iowa State; Hui Hu, Iowa State; Greg Curtzwiler, Iowa State; Caixia “Ellen” Wan, University of Missouri; Nils Hansen, Sandia National Laboratories (California); Yebo Li, quasar energy group (Ohio); Xumeng Ge, quasar energy group
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