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Reinventing the wheel

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 1:21 am
by gracken
thinking of how many of the consumer products around me are made from petroleum derivatives (such as the parts in the laptop on which i write this) and wondering if all of those organic chemists and chemists in general will be able to replace them in the next 30 to forty years with things derived from ethanol.

i'm talking about paints, make up, car tires, electronics, medical equipment (diposables), etc.,

in a discovery channel website it points out that even aspirin is made with chemical reagents derived from petroleum

it worries me how much of industry is currently dependent on petroleum and it's derivatives

anyway, thought i'd share

Reward: nada

Re: Reinventing the wheel

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:40 pm
by tem.ernst
there are two kinds of plastics:
thermosetting plastics (non-reusable)
and thermoplastics (reusable)

so far, i myself have made a non-reusable corn plastic. and that broke apart after a couple hours. it's very hard to make corn work on its own.

Re: Reinventing the wheel

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:54 pm
by gracken
are the two types interchangeable in applications?

congratulations on your attempt, but, for practicality, considering how much crude we have all ready extracted, wouldn't it be more efficient to reclaim the thermosetting platic in landfills, rather than creating more of it?

do these categories have anything to do with wether they decompose or not?

just asking, i guess i could find out on the internet, not to impose on you

Re: Reinventing the wheel

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 7:49 pm
by tem.ernst
thermosetting plastic cannot be reused.
everything will decompose eventually, however, thermoplastic will decompose faster than the other.

Re: Reinventing the wheel

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:09 pm
by gracken
so if i understand you correctly, themoplastics are not reusable and will take longe to decompose?

Re: Reinventing the wheel

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 5:54 pm
by tem.ernst
thermosetting plastics are not reusable and will decompose slower. thermoplastics are reusable with decompose faster.