Recycling a plastic bottle may provide a fleeting sense of green philanthropy, but the process of making that bottle is still pretty eco-unfriendly. Now, chemists at Stanford University have developed a new plastic-making method that could leave no carbon footprint.
Most of the 270 billion plastic bottles used in the U.S. each year are derived from petroleum. And that manufacturing contributes to a global greenhouse gas hit of more than 200 million tons of carbon dioxide each year — the same amount about 150 coal power plants generate annually. Some plastics companies are attempting to cut that footprint by substituting corn-based sugar for petroleum. But planting, fertilizing and harvesting corn generates significant carbon emissions, too, says researcher Matt Kanan.
Instead of sugar, Kanan’s team developed a process that uses carbon dioxide and furfural, a compound derived from corn harvest waste. First, they converted furfural into furoic acid, a common food ...
