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scithreads:

sci-universe:

A way to make renewable plastic from carbon dioxide and plants figured out

Stanford chemistry graduate student Aanindeeta Banerjee and Assistant Professor Matthew Kanan with

co-workers

have discovered a novel way to make plastic from carbon dioxide (CO2) and inedible plant material, such as agricultural waste and grasses. The new technology could provide a low-carbon alternative to plastic bottles and other items currently made from petroleum.

“Our goal is to replace petroleum-derived products with plastic made from CO2,” said Matthew Kanan, an assistant professor of chemistry at Stanford. “If you could do that without using a lot of non-renewable energy, you could dramatically lower the carbon footprint of the plastics industry.”

Changing the plastic formula

Many plastic products today are made from a polymer called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), also known as polyester. Worldwide, about 50 million tons of PET are produced each year for items such as fabrics, electronics, recyclable beverage containers and personal-care products.

PET is made from two components, terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, which are derived from refined petroleum and natural gas. Manufacturing PET produces significant amounts of CO2, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

The team focused on a promising alternative to PET called polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF). PEF is made from ethylene glycol and a compound called 2-5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA).

“PEF is an attractive replacement for PET, because FDCA can be sourced from biomass instead of petroleum,” Kanan said.

The plastics industry has yet to find a low-cost way to manufacture PEF at scale. The bottleneck has been figuring out a commercially viable way to produce FDCA sustainably.

One approach is to convert fructose from corn syrup into FDCA. The Dutch firm, Avantium, has been developing that technology, but growing crops for industry requires lots of land, energy, fertilizer and water.

Turning plant waste into plastic

The Stanford team solved the problem using a far more benign compound: carbonate. Graduate student Aanindeeta Banerjee, lead author of the study, combined carbonate with CO2 and furoic acid, a derivative of furfural. She then heated the mixture to about 290 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) to form a molten salt.

The results were dramatic. After five hours, 89 percent of the molten-salt mixture had been converted to FDCA. The next step, transforming FDCA into PEF plastic, is a straightforward process that has been worked out by other researchers, Kanan said.

Read more here

Pretty cool! If we’re going to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, we also need to find different ways of making products (such as plastics).

justice-turtle:

watersport5:

theacenightwatch:

Someone: *makes something gender neutral*

Assholes on Facebook: HOW DARE YOU THINK OF PEOPLE WHO AREN’T MEEEEE

its a just a toilet that anyone can use… like the toilet in like, every single person’s home… why are people so ..inflamed.. about everything

and the thing is these are in a lot of places? but they don’t label them “inclusive restroom” they label them “family restroom”

because if it’s about Family Values then it’s all right see but if it’s about Those Queers it’s a bad

it’s literally the exact same thing *headshake*

tigerliliesandcherryblossoms:

witchhuntress:

detenebrate:

0xymoronic:

shitarianasays:

theeyesinthenight:

the-sonic-screw:

platinumpixels:

volpesvolpes:

unseilie:

sarahvonkrolock:

gaysexagainstawall:

them-days-was-olden-as-fuck:

The spread of the black death.

Poland

Poland, tell us your secret.

Poland is the old new Madagascar. 

If I remember correctly, Poland’s secret is that the jews where being blamed all over europe (as usual) as scapegoats for the black plague. Poland was the only place that accepted Jewish refugees, so pretty much all of them moved there. 

Now, one of the major causes of getting the plague was poor hygiene. This proved very effective for the plague because everyone threw their poop into the streets because there were no sewers, and literally no one bathed because it was against their religion. Unless they were jewish, who actually bathed relatively often. When all the jews moved to Poland, they brought bathing with them, and so the plague had little effect there.

Milan survived by quarantining its city and burning down the house of anyone showing early symptoms, with the entire family inside it. 

I reblogged this tons of times, but the Milan info is new.

Damn Italy, you scary.

Poland: “Hey, feeling a bit down? Have a quick wash! There, you see? All better”

Milan: “Aw, feeling a bit sick are we? BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN!!!!!”

Also, this might have something to do with it: from what I understand, O blood type is uncommonly… common in Poland. Something to do with large families in small villages and a LOT of intermarriage. The black plague was caused by a bacterium that produced, in its waste in the human body, wastes that very closely mimic the “B” marker sugars on red blood cells that keep the body from attacking its own immune system. Anyone who has a B blood type had an immune system that was naturally desensitized to the presence of the bacterium, and therefore was more prone to developing the disease. Anyone who had an O type was doubly lucky because the O blood type means the total absence of ANY markers, A or B, meaning that their bodys’ immune system would react quickly and violently against the invaders, while someone with an A may show symptoms and recover more slowly, while someone with B would have just died. Because O is a recessive blood type, it shows in higher numbers when more people who carry the recessive genes marry other people who also carry the recessive gene. Poland, which has a nearly 700 year history of being conquered by or partnering with every other nation in the surrounding area, was primarily an agricultural country, focused around smaller, farming communities where people were legally tied to, and required to work, “their” land, and so historically never “spread” their genes across a large area. The economy was, and had been, unstable for a very long period of time leading up to the plague, the government had been ineffective and had very little reach in comparison to the armies of the other countries around for a very very long time, and so its people largely remained in small communities where multiple generations of cross-familial inbreeding could have allowed for this more recessive gene to show up more frequently. Thus, there could be a higher percentage of O blood types in any region of the country, guaranteeing less spread of the illness and moving slower when it did manage to travel. Combine this with the fact that there were very few large, urban centers where the disease would thrive, and with the above facts, and you’ve got a lovely recipe for avoiding the plague.

Interestingly enough, as a result from the plague, the entirety of Europe now has a higher percentage of people with O blood type than any other region of the world. 

WHY IS THIS ALL SO COOL

When Tumblr teaches you more about the plague than 12 years of school ever did.

Just to throw a nod in, as a medieval historian, this is all credible, and is the leading theory as to the plagues effectiveness at this point. So. Enjoy your new knowledge!

This is great and amazing! ????????????????????????????????

Fucking Milan. Damn.

korybing:

BIG STORE SALE! Big store sale!!!

I got home from Staple to find out that my tablet is not working anymore! OH JOY! And this is on top of a very big amount of taxes I need to pay this year! Ew!

So i’m having a big sale! Things are cheap! If you wanted to buy something from the store, now is the time!

I also added a new product, the $10 Mystery Bag! I will throw 10 dollars worth of merch that I can’t or don’t sell online/at cons anymore. There’s prints! Buttons! Random debris found behind my desk (that part might be a lie)! Random Borogove cards from incomplete decks! Whatever!!!

Please spread the news! I need to shore up some emergency cash! Thank you so much!

seedkeeping:

Some very cute things are happening in the greenhouse at Roughwood Seed Collection. Dr. William Woys Weaver has set up a portal into a Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen, surrounded by fava and brassica seeds beginning the bursting open stage of waking up from sometimes years in dark envelopes and jars.