Professor Peter Scott, Royal Society Industry Fellowship
Commercial Realisation of the Polyolefin-Polar Block Copolymer Concept
Plastics pervade most aspects of modern life. We make these materials in enormous, energy-efficient plants at low cost, and they are light and durable. On the downside, too much plastic ends up in landfill or indeed in the wider environment, like the oceans.
It’s easy to say that we need to get rid of plastics, but look around you - everything that is not wood, metal or rock is probably a plastic. We need to find ways to encourage recycling and re-use.
Most of this stuff we call “plastic” is actually a group of materials called polyolefins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene.
Yet the properties that make these polyolefins so useful also presents us with problems. For example, polyolefins do not readily mix with other materials, so this makes them difficult to recycle. Contamination with even a small amount of other types of plastic leads to poor performance. This reduces the value of recycled plastic because businesses need to use new, so-called “virgin” material.
Food and drink manufacturers are being encouraged to eliminate mixed plastics to enable better recycling recovery rates.
Changes in consumer behaviour and government legislation will also help, but we also need to fix the underlying technical problem: How do we get polyolefins to mix with other materials?
Polyolefins do not readily mix with other materials, so this makes them difficult to recycle. Contamination with even a small amount of other types of plastic leads to poor performance.
An electron microscope image showing the globules of one polymer in another. Like oily droplets in water, they do not naturally combine.
Making polyolefins compatible
This is a little like the question "how do you mix oil and water?" We all know that all you need is a little soap. Professor Peter Scott and his team have developed a new type of molecule which acts like a soap for plastics. As well as aiding with recycling, adding small quantities of these "polymer soaps" also helps with other tasks such as printing, coating, adhesion, and impact modification.
The team is looking at molecules that can help with all these problems and working with international businesses including the Warwick spin-out Interface Polymers and long-time Warwick partner Infineum.