Polymers, which include products such as plastic bags, clothing, cookware, and electronics, provide many conveniences and support our current standard of living. However, due to their difficulty in decomposing, they present long-term environmental challenges. Developing polymers with a more sustainable life cycle is a crucial step towards a green economy and addressing the global climate change crisis. Unfortunately, the development of biodegradable polymers is limited by current biodegradation testing methods.
To overcome this limitation, a team of MIT researchers, led by Bradley D. Olsen, the Alexander and I. Michael Kasser (1960) Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has created an extensive biodegradation data set to determine whether a polymer is biodegradable. Their findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The MIT team, led by Olsen and Ph.D. candidates Katharina A. Fransen and Sarah H. M. Av-Ron, also includes postdoc Dylan J. Walsh and undergraduate students Tess R. Buchanan, Dechen T. Rota, and Lana Van Note.
“Despite polymer waste being a known and significant contributor to the climate crisis, the study of polymer biodegradation has been limited to a small number of polymers because current biodegradation testing methods are time- and resource-intensive,” says Olsen. “This limited scope slows new material innovation, so we are working to open that up to a much broader portfolio of materials.”
The data set developed by Olsen’s team includes over 600 distinct polyester chemistries.
2023-06-13 00:30:03
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